The Runaway
by hakuna-matataa
Summary: Percy's gone. No one knows why or to where, until Annabeth finds a note written by him to her, four years later, telling him where he is, & Annabeth is determined to find him, no matter what the personal cost. xxPERCABETH!xx
1. Past & Present

**Just a fanfic i wanted to write (: Once I knew where it would go , i had to start right away ! maybe a little OOC but come on , who's isnt ? enjoy (:**

* * *

><p>His hands were soft, but his abs were rock. His eyes were gentle, but his hair was messy. His smile was shy and sweet, but his thoughts were sharp and fierce. His past was dangerous and dark, but his future looks bright. And, best of all, his kisses were delicate, but he wasn't afraid to ask for more.<p>

He was Percy Jackson.

Every day I look at him and wonder how I ended up with someone as amazing as him. He's brave and heroic and courageous. Not to mention that he's _the_ Percy Jackson. The one who slayed the Minotaur, and held the sky, and saved Olympus. Heck, not just Olympus, he saved the _world_ for Zeus' sake! I was just his trusty sidekick throughout all of it.

Somehow, with his brain full of seaweed, he chose me. He could've easily gotten a gorgeous Aphrodite girl or a sweet Demeter girl or a graceful Apollo girl. But when I would bring this up to him he was just say, "But I wanted the gorgeous, sweet _and_ semi-graceful girl Annabeth Chase." Then I would playfully shove him and he'd pick me up, spin me around, we'd laugh, and soon we'd find ourselves under our favorite tree by the beach, our lips locked.

See, about a year before this, on his sixteenth birthday, after we crawled out of the lake about an hour after being thrown in, I needed to dry off. He was the son of Poseidon so his clothes were perfectly dry. But did he offer to dry mine off for me? Of course not. Instead he claimed that "he hadn't learned that skill yet", but he's such a bad liar. He really just wanted to see me mad.

"But you're cute when you're mad," he said.

"Really? Well soon you're going to think I'm more gorgeous than Aphrodite if you don't get me dry right now," I shot back.

"I already do."

Now how can you stay mad at someone when they say that? I was shocked that Percy had the courage to state a compliment like that to me. So as a reward, I kissed him.

We quickly found out that if we get too deep into a kiss, it's very hard to stop. Probably a half hour later, Percy and I were still kissing, but somehow we were sitting under one of the trees right by the beach's end. His lips started out soft and gentle, like he was afraid he was going to break me, but I wanted more. So I deepened the kiss, and I could tell he was happy about that. Things progressed from there. No, nobody ended up naked. Neither of us even took anything off. But the sensation and the peace at mind and heart and the thought that Percy Jackson was actually and finally _mine_, it just made it just about the most amazing kiss of my life.

Percy and I would go to that tree whenever we we're upset or thoughtful or even hormonal. If one of us wanted to talk to the other, there were no questions asked—we headed straight for the tree. He even got sappy and carved our initials into the trunk with a rock the following summer.

Everything was just…perfect.

Until August 2nd, just a few weeks before his seventeenth birthday.

Percy and I we're laid out under our tree. It was the hottest day so far that summer, so he and I would jump in the lake then come back and sit in the shade for a while. We were hoping that it would help us stay cool, but I definitely wasn't enough.

"Ugg…gods," he mumbled. "Why does it have to be so hot out?"

I shrugged. "I've seen hotter."

He turned towards me with a look of disbelief. "I don't know how you can possibly live in San Francisco without dying of heat stroke?"

I laughed. "Well I don't know how you can live in New York without turning into a popsicle."

"I guess that's true," he said while chuckling, then he sighed.

"What's wrong?" I asked. He shrugged, while sitting up. "Oh, come on. Spill."

"It's just, I never like this point in the year," he admitted. "It means we only have a few weeks left before we leave again."

I smiled. "You're so cheesy," I said while intertwining my fingers with his.

He leaned closer and kissed me softly. Just after pulling back, he kissed me again. And again, and again, every one fiercer than the last. His kisses were seriously addictive to me. Slowly, he leaned more and more towards me, causing me to lie back down. I moved my hands into his hair and ran them through, memorizing every strand. His hands were first cradling my face but slipped down my neck and to my waist. He's only gotten this deep into it a few times before, but I've noticed that it's always when he has something on his mind. But I was so lost in his lips that I didn't have the strength to stop. I didn't _want _to stop. In fact, I wanted _more_.

I didn't stop until his hands started reaching up my shirt. "Stop," I said forcefully. Immediately he stopped and pulled back, but he stayed on top of me. "What are you doing?"

His eyes were full of lust and he had this expression on his face that I've never seen before. "I love you, Annabeth," he said while leaning down for another kiss, his hands going right back to where he left off. As much as I loved it and as good as it felt, I had to push him off.

"Stop," I repeated while crawling out from under him. "Percy, what is going on?"

He looked hurt. "Don't you love me too?"

"Of course I do," I responded. I actually realized that I was in love with him a while ago, but he was such a Seaweed Brain, he didn't notice. "But you've never acted like this. What's on your mind?"

His eyes were still deep with lust, but now instead of intense, they were…confused, sad and happy at the same time. It was hard to explain.

"I'm sorry," he whispered.

"It's okay," I assured. "Just tell me what's going on."

Everything, besides the multiple campers running into the lake, was quiet while I waited for a response, but he didn't budge. His expression started changing by the second, so I could tell that he was probably talking to himself in his head. To help him relax, I leaned in and pecked him softly on the lips.

"Well, when you're ready to talk, come find me," I said while gazing into his gorgeous sea-green eyes.

While grinning that looked fake, he slowly nodded.

I was about to stand up and walk away to lunch when he pulled me back down into one more passionate kiss. "I love you, Annabeth Chase," he whispered.

I leaned my forehead against his. "I love you too, Percy Jackson."

I had no idea that that would be the last time he'd ever say that to me. Because the next day, he was gone.

* * *

><p><strong>good ? bad ? tell me watcha think , especially since its the first chapter <strong>

**-kenna(:**


	2. Notes & New Guys

**14 reviews , 18 story alerts & 9 favorite stories for only the first chapter ? **

**Yeah , you guys are amazing (: THANK YOU SOOOO MUCHHH ! it made my day when I got home from school to find my inbox stocked !**

**sorry about the long wait . end of school = lots of projects & tests :P **

**well enough of that . enjoy chapter 2 : Notes & New Guys (:**

* * *

><p>It would be awesome if I could say that the next four years were fine and that I eventually got over Percy and ended up marrying a rich Abercrombie model. But that'd be a bigger lie than if I'd say I wasn't still in love with him.<p>

What actually happened is for the first year after he was gone, I never stopped looking for him. Everyone at camp started looking for him or trying to come up with clues as to what happened to him, but no one had any luck. I even asked my mother if she knew where he went, but she didn't know. My mother; the goddess of _wisdom_, didn't know where he was.

Some would give up at this point and accept that he just decided to live in to ocean or got swallowed by the Minotaur or something. But not me.

Chiron tried to tell me in a nice way that maybe I should just give up, and that wherever Percy was, he was okay, whether it be Atlantis or Elysium. But I refused to accept that he was just gone. For two months, I went out on my own all over America. Some may call it "running away" but I called it a Journey.

After being everywhere from the Statue of Liberty to Sea World, I started accepting that maybe he was gone. And maybe I wouldn't be able to get him back, no matter how hard I tried.

I was just a few miles away from Camp Half-Blood again when, for one second, I let my guard down. In that instant, a Hydra popped out of the ground and ended up breaking my leg. I probably would've died right there in the middle of the woods if the Hunter's hadn't luckily heard me and came to help. That weekend was the gods and goddesses homecoming and I ended up drunk. But hey, I was upset.

Chiron talked me into staying and helped me forget about Percy. I definitely never got over him, nor did I forget about him, but I was able to accept that he wasn't coming back.

I haven't been myself sense the day he disappeared, that's for sure. But here I am, four years later, and I haven't shed a tear about Percy since the homecoming where I had constant breakdowns because of all the beer I drank.

Now, I'm a counselor at camp as a sword fighting instructor. And I tell lots of stories to the new kids about my adventures when I was a teenager. I'll admit, when I'd have to talk about Percy, sometimes my throat would start to clinch, but then I'd just tell myself that wherever he was, he was happy, and then I'd move on with the story.

I also got to design all the cabins for the minor gods. I never actually knew how much land Chiron owned for Camp Half-Blood until we had to cut out half of the Strawberry Fields just to fit them all. And now that Percy changed the law, the campers have tripled at least. I even had to add more floors onto some of the major gods' cabins, like Hermes', Demeter's, Apollo's and even mine, Athena's.

And sometimes I'm ashamed to admit this, even to myself, but, yes. I met someone else.

Chiron saw it as a good thing that I was finally moving on with my life. I know it's a good thing, but sometimes, I just can't. And Eli gets that. That's what I like about him

That's his name—Eli; son of Asclepius, minor god of medicine and healing. The children of Asclepius quickly teamed up with the Apollo kids in the infirmary shortly after the first few kids getting there. That's actually how I met him—I was in the infirmary after I got distracted while teaching a camper how to sword fight and her sword ended up slitting my arm. But there was an instant connection between Eli and I. I found myself hoping every day after that that I would get hurt badly enough that I would have to go back to the infirmary just so I could see him. It started off with s just talking for a while, then to flirting, and then one day he asked me to the fireworks. We've been together for just over a year now.

What I like about Eli is that he doesn't mind that sometimes I still think about Percy. He can tell the days that I want to be left alone and the days that I need someone to offer me open arms. He gives the best advice even if it has nothing to do with what's actually wrong. And he's a good kisser too.

Today has been especially hard for me. The four year anniversary of Percy disappearing was a few weeks ago and Percy's birthday is tomorrow. It's times like these that Eli probably never knows what I'm going to be like—either I'll really need him there for me or if he should stay the hell away from me. I wasn't really sure how I was feeling today though. It wasn't one or the other, but it wasn't in the middle either.

The breakfast bell sounded and my siblings and I piled out of our cabin and towards Mess Hall.

With all the new campers and new minor gods, we couldn't fit any more tables in the Hall. So instead we built a huge courtyard for the minor gods. The major gods' tables were still inside, but I liked sitting outside for breakfast.

"Hey," Eli greeted while giving me a quick peck on the lips.

"Hey," I responded monotone. Eli stayed standing until I looked at him again. His hand was nervously placed on the chair next to me, as if asking if he could sit. I gestured for him to sit and he did.

He used to play football for his high school so his whole body was toned and naturally tan. His hair was blonde and spiky and his eyes were a dark green. I can't help but compare them to Percy's every time I look at them. I liked Percy's better.

"How's the waffles?" he asked grinning.

I shrugged, scraping the top of the uneaten waffle with my fork. I really wasn't very hungry which is exactly what I told him.

"Hmm," he said. "Well we can't let a perfectly good waffle go to waste."

I chuckled and shook my head with a shrug. "I guess not."

Eli put on hand on my back and with the other, he grabbed the syrup and started pouring it all over my plate. Next he grabbed a spoon full of whipped cream and globbed it on the top. Finally, he took some of the strawberries that campers sometimes pick from the fields, and perched two on top. Just the way I like it.

"Now," he said satisfied. "You can't just let as perfect of a waffle like that just sit there." I smiled.

Eli took my fork and cut out a square of the waffle, adding a little of one of the strawberries on top. Then he picked it up with the fork and placed it in my mouth. I have to admit, that was exactly what I needed.

"Thanks," I said giving him another peck. But my good mood fell quick. I remembered that the last person who had ever fed me my favorite breakfast—waffles with whipped cream, syrup, and strawberries—was Percy on my seventeenth birthday.

I always think of little stuff like this that relates to Percy. It's almost automatic, around this time of the year especially.

"What's wrong?" Eli noticed.

I shook my head. "Nothing," I lied. Eli is probably the last person I should lie too, mostly because one, he'd be okay if I said that I was thinking about Percy and two, he knows I'm a bad liar. "I'm just going to go down to the beach."

He looked at me with his _You're-not-fooling-me-but-I-hope-you-feel-better_ look. "Okay, I'll see you later."

I gave him one last kiss, this time a little bit longer, and then I made my way to the ocean.

* * *

><p>I hadn't sat under mine and Percy's tree since Percy's last birthday. I was going to wait until tomorrow, but I didn't see anything wrong with coming down here two days in a row.<p>

It was a hotter day than usual and campers were already jumping in the lake, trying to keep cool. I lied out on my back over the roots. I don't know how long I sat there, staring at the leaves, but I know that the whole time I was thinking about Percy. And more importantly, the last day I saw him. The day was a lot like this, which just made the whole thing worse.

I was starting to get weird looks from some of the campers who didn't know that story about me, Percy and this tree, so I sat up and scootched around to the back side of the tree so by back was facing the lake.

As I was scotching, I heard a _crunch._ At first I thought it was someone else coming towards me through the woods, but then I repositioned myself and I heard it coming from under me. It sounded like a leaf, but no leaves were on the ground yet.

I moved once more to the right and looked to where I had been previously sitting. After digging through the dirt a little bit and moving around some weeds, I found a piece of paper.

It was yellowish, had a lot of water damage and was extremely crinkled. I was nervous that I would rip it as I tried to unwind it.

After a few minutes of carefully finding edges, I was able to spread it out with only a small rip at one of the corners.

Whoever wrote it must've known that something might happen to it, because it was written in some kind of ink that was completely waterproof.

That was my first hint.

_It couldn't be, could it?_

The writing was sloppy and only half of the words were in English. The other half was in Ancient Greek.

_There's no way…_

Quickly scanning over the paper, two words stood out to me: _run away_.

_He didn't._

Finally I saw the signature at the bottom. My eyes we're already overflowing with tears and I tried to quiet myself so the no one would hear me.

After I calmed myself down enough to hold the note steadily, I read it. It was addressed to me with a date at the top: _August 2__nd._

_Annabeth,_

_I hope you find this note soon. I don't know how long I'll be able to last without you here with me—if I'll be able to last _at all._ I didn't want to run away, and I'm sorry for leaving without an explanation, but I had no choice. I can't tell you anything else, but I'll explain everything when I see you again. When will that be? If you want to know where I went, follow the instructions below. I can't tell you exactly where I went either until you figure it out on your own, but I know you can figure it out. You're a smart girl. _

_I love you, Wise Girl. I can't wait to see you again._

_Love always,_

_Seaweed Brain_

There was a list below the note but I didn't get the chance to read it, because I was already running.

* * *

><p><strong>so what do ya think ? <strong>

**reviews are the only way I'll know ! **

**-kenna(:**


	3. Letters & Lies

**soooo sorry that I haven't updated in a while ! i had finals , then end of the year stuff , then lack of inspiration , then a week long camp . But hopefully we're all good now (: thanks SOOOOOO freaking much for the reviews , favorites & alerts last chapter ! :D hope you like Letters & Lies !**

* * *

><p>Four years. Four <em>freaking <em>years! That note was just sitting there! And I never noticed it. Even through all the times that I was curled up there, crying to myself.

I could've found him the day after we noticed he was gone if I had actually used my stupid head and looked around. Hell, maybe he might've never even _left! _I was so mad at myself, that as soon as I made it back to my cabin, I started punching everything of mine—my dresser, my bed, my pillow, my walls, my desk, everything-all while I was blinded by tears. I don't know what I was thinking I would get out of this, but something worked.

An hour later, after I could feel my fists again and I cleaned up everything I had thrown around, I walked into my personal study. Chiron allowed me to add a personal addition for the leaders of the cabin when I was seventeen. It could be whatever they wanted. Katie wanted her own private garden, Percy wanted a game room, the Stoll's wanted an extra large storage closet (the gods only _know _what they keep in there), and so on. For me, a private study that I could go to if I couldn't concentrate on my research or if I just wanted some time alone.

I shut my door and sat down at my desk. It was covered in blueprints and books in Ancient Greek, but this was far more important, so I pushed everything aside.

After reading the top of the note about ten more times, I moved down to the first instruction.

_1. Funnel Cake _

I scrunched my eyebrows. "What? That's it?" I said aloud. "What the hell does that mean!" _Typical Percy. _I kicked my desk.

Someone knocked on my door. "_What?" _I growled.

"Well gods, Annabeth," Thalia, my life-long best friend, said as she came in. She was wearing camouflage shorts and a plain white V-neck while her dark hair was pulled back with her Lieutenant Crown placed on top. "Is it your time of the month already?"

"Thalia!" I squealed while going over to hug her. I was actually so relieved to see her again that I decided to ignore her last comment. "How _are _you? How are the Hunters?"

"Good, good," she answered. "But you'd be lying if you said the same. So what's up?" After I didn't answer—how am I supposed to tell someone that I, a daughter of _Athena_, wasn't using my head for four years?—, she started making guesses on her own. "Did Eli break up with you?" I shook my head. "Lost a blueprint or a book or something?" Shake. "Then what is it?"

_Should I tell her? _I thought to myself. _Of course I should. She's my best friends for Zeus' sake. But wait, she's not really the _lovey-dovey _type. She probably wouldn't get it. But wait, she's been all over the country recently. She would know how to get somewhere _way _better than I would. Plus, she might be able to help me figure out these stupid clues. On the other hand…_

"ANNABETH!" Thalia screamed in my face.

"Ahh! What?" I screamed back.

"Well, you we're just standing there staring at the floor for like two minutes!" she shouted. "And I was saying your name multiple times but you weren't responding!" It was silent for a few seconds, then we both took a deep breath.

"Sorry," I muttered. "I didn't hear you."

"You didn't hear me?" she asked. "I'm less than three feet away from you. What the hell is wrong?"

I sighed. "It's only Thalia," I accidently whispered aloud to myself.

Thalia raised her eyebrow at me. "Huh?"

"Look, I found this today," I said, handing her the note.

She looked confused at first, but after she glanced over it, her eyes widened and her mouth dropped open. Neither of us said anything while she took her time reading everything on that paper. After what seemed like forever, Thalia asked the question that had been in my head ever since I found it. "So, what are you going to do?"

I shrugged. "What _can_ I do? I'm going to go find the boy who tore out my heart."

* * *

><p>"Knife?"<p>

"Check."

"Golden drachmas?"

"Check."

"Old, cuddly teddy bear?"

"Oh, shut up…and check."

Thalia and I were locked in my study going over everything I'd need to go find Percy. After I officially sealed the deal-that is, saying it aloud and to another person, at least-on going to find Percy, she and I tried to figure out some of the clues. But we never even figured out the first one, even after two hours. So instead, we started putting a backpack of necessities together. So far, we had some Ambrosia, Nectar of the gods, an extra set of clothes, a box of Ritz, one-hundred sixty dollars of mortal money, my knife, golden drachmas, and my teddy bear which I made Thalia swear not to tell anyone else about.

"Okay," she said. "I think you've got everything. And you still have no idea where you're going, do you?"

"Cool," I said pulling the backpack over my shoulder. "And nope, no idea."

Thalia groaned. "Who knew Seaweed Brain could be so complex?"

I laughed. "Gods, I have absolutely _no_ idea how I'm going to figure this out. And what if it's not even Percy at all? What if it's just some stupid kid who wanted to see me freak out? Oh my gods, Thalia, what if he's not actually out there? What if som—?"

"Annabeth!" Thalia interrupted. "Just relax. Of _course_ Percy wrote this note. Look, you can tell because he spelt 'explain' wrong."

I glanced at the note again more carefully and realized she was right. When I was reading over it the first time, I was reading it so fast that I didn't even notice—which is weird because I can usually spot when even just a comma is out of place. Gods, he's _such_ a Seaweed Brain.

I sighed. "Well, what if—?"

"My gods, Annabeth," Thalia interrupted again. "You must be completely love-sick if you're this worried about nothing. What happened to the Annabeth who laughed when Percy tripped over his own feet and fell straight off the side of the cliff?" She laughed at the memory herself.

"He was falling into water then so I knew he'd be okay," I said. "This is different."

Thalia stood up from where she was leaning on my desk and sat on the arm of my desk chair next to me. "Don't worry, Annabeth," she said. "You've gone on a gazillion quests and only came _extremely_ close to dying once. The other times were just moderatle close." Thanks for the happy thought, Thals. "And that one time was for the same boy you're going to find _now_ I should point out."

I stayed silent. I didn't have enough guts to admit that it wasn't the actual journey, to wherever in Hades I was going, that scared me. That part seemed pretty simple to me (as soon as I figure out his damn clues). The part that scared me is what would happen after I found him. Would he have moved on by now? Does he still want to see me? If so, then why hadn't he come back? Why did he leave in the first place? Would we get back together?

Then, of course, the sad truth about this adventure: what about Eli?

As sweet and understanding and perfect as he is, I'm pretty sure me going up to him and telling him that I'm leaving him to go search for my long lost ex-boyfriend _again_, well it just doesn't seem like that'd fly with him.

And then there's Chiron. If he were to find out that I was leaving _again_—and he has his ways of finding out—, he'd put me in a straightjacket and have Eli spoon feed me until I was "thinking straight". And you might be thinking _Chiron wouldn't do that_, but he would. The reason no one hears about him doing anything like that is because no one has ever tried to push his boundaries this far. Percy took a pretty big risk every time that he'd sneak out of camp after Chiron told him not to, but those were more for the sake of the world. This is more for the sake of me being selfish.

After thinking it over, I came up with probably one of the worst plans I've ever thought of. But it's the only thing that'll-hopefully-work. "Okay, I'll go without complaints, but you've got to help me with Chiron and Eli."

Thalia seemed to perk up at this. "Works for me! What are we going to do with 'em?"

I just looked at her for a second. "We're not going to hurt them in any way, if that's what you're thinking."

Her face fell into more of a smirk. "Oh, come on! Just a little? Or what about just Eli?"

"_No!" _She crossed her arms with a disappointed look on her face. "I'll just write Eli a note and for Chiron, just tell him I had a family emergency or something, and that I needed to leave camp early."

She raised an eyebrow. "That's it? That's one of Annabeth Chase's big, master plans? A cheesy note and a lie?"

"Well, sorry," I murmured. "I'm not exactly completely focused at the moment if you can't already tell."

She sighed. "Oh-_kaaay,_" she dragged out as I pulled out a pen and a sheet of loose-leaf paper from my desk.

I quickly and sloppily wrote out how sorry I was for leaving without saying goodbye, why I had to go, how much I loved him even though I was breaking up with him and yadda yadda yadda. I kind of felt bad that I wasn't putting much heart into this letter to Eli as I probably should to a perfect boyfriend of just over a year. Especially because of everything I put him though. But even though Eli was perfect, Percy was still better to me.

But I had to hurry because I didn't have much time left. I had to leave before lunch so that Chiron wouldn't accidently catch me when he was helping kids train. Right now, he was in the Big House with Mr. D sorting schedules for next summer so now was the best shot I had. How I was going to get past Eli, I had no idea. Pure luck, I guess.

I folded up the letter, stuck it in an envelope and handed it over to Thalia. "So that's that. But we still have no idea where you're going," she said.

I sighed and picked up Percy's note again. _1. Funnel Cake_ it said. Ew. I can't even think of Funnel Cakes anymore ever since my first date with Percy at the amusement park. I had a _horrible _case of the munchies that day and downed two whole ones myself, which turned out to be a bad idea because our next ride was the loop-de-loop which I then got sick on. Percy then realized that bringing me to the amusement park that day had been a decidedly bad idea.

_Wait a second. _Percy _realized. _

I gasped. Then, slowly a grin crept onto my face. "Oh, _Thalia?"_ I sing-songed.

Thalia was looking at me like another arm had just grown from my head. "Yeah?" she said slowly, sounding very confused.

"I know _exactly _what he means," I stated, proudly.

Thalia perked up. "Really? Awesome! What does it mean?"

I smirked. Only Seaweed Brain would send me to an amusement park first.

* * *

><p><strong>reviews? favorites? alerts? love them all (: hope you liked it ! -kenna(:<strong>

**P.S. I'M A FRESHMAN ! :DD **


	4. Sneaking Out & Southern Hospitality

**To AIMEE: I would just like to say that this wonderful chap is dedicated to my bestie poseidon4life18 - aka AIMEE ! She doesn't know why yet , but babe , I guarantee once you're done reading it , you'll know why (:**

**To the reader who reviewed "No offense but what about the invisibility cap" : I did it on purpose (: it'll explain in the first little bit . thanks for the review !**

**To everyone who reviewed, favorited & alerted from the last chap: THANK YOU SOOOO MUCH ! you guys make my life amazing (: lovee you !**

**To Percabeth lovers : Stick with me through this chapter. You might not like me at first, but you will! ...eventually .**

**To ALL : enjoy Sneaking Out & Southern Hospitality (:**

* * *

><p><em>Step, step, step. Turn. Step, step, step. Turn. Step, step, step.<em>

I had been pacing across my cabin for probably the last ten minutes. I now knew where I was going and I already took care of Chiron and Eli, but…something was still holding me up. I mean, this was it. I was finally going to find Percy. Not that I hadn't attempted to find that Seaweed Brain before, but this time, I was actually going to do it.

All the other times that I had snuck out of camp to look for him had all ended with me either giving up, being forcibly brought back or, on one occasion, being attacked by a Hydra. But this time I actually had a clue—or, _clues_—to where he was. And I was going to find him—no matter what.

Thalia walked back in the cabin. I had sent her out to see where both Eli and Chiron were and make sure they were busy. "You're good to go," she said. "Chiron is sorting more files and Eli is at the arena. But Annabeth, I don't get why—"

"Shh, Thalia!" I cut her off. "I don't want anyone to hear. If anyone else finds out that I'm leaving again, they'll throw me in a love-sick mental hospital!"

Thalia got this teasing grin on her face. "Anna loves Percy! Anna loves Percy!" she sing-songed loudly just to make me mad.

"_Thalia!" _I said sharply. "I just…" I paused. "I need to make sure I'll be able to get out of here to find him. I _need _to find him."

"But Annab—"

"And if anyone sees me and tells Chiron, I'll _never_ get to find him."

"You'll be fine 'caus—"

"And if I hadn't been sitting on my ass for the past four years, maybe I would've already found him! Then I wouldn't have to be breaking up with Eli and having to sneak past everyone! Oh gods, Thalia, what if someone sees me? I can't _stand_ the idea of getting all my hopes up for noth—"

"ANNABETH!" Thalia screamed above my rambling. "Listen to me. I realize that you're head-over-heels in love with Percy. But you've _got _to shut up! This isn't the Annabeth who ran away from home when she was seven, led a quest through the Labyrinth and saved the world." I sighed and finally relaxed. She was right. It's amazing what this boy could do to me. And he wasn't even here. "Now, as I was trying to tell you, I don't know why you need to have Chiron and Eli distracted anyways. Don't you still have your invisibility cap?"

A smile crept on my face. "Gods, that's right!" I walked into my study and started pulling out some boxes. I didn't know which one it was in so Thalia and I just opened them all and dug through.

"Found it," Thalia said, hunching over an old cardboard moving box labeled _Dishes_.

She grabbed the cap out and blew off some of the bust before handing it to me. "Gods," I said. "I haven't worn this in years." Actually, the last time that I had worn this was during a game of Capture the Flag. I remember because I used it to sneak up behind Percy, hoping to scare him. But he must've heard I was coming because without even turning around, he paraded my attack and, in one swift movement, pushed off my cap, knocked my knife out of my hand, caught it with the other, and had his blade at my throat. Then he leaned in so he was only centimeters from my lips and whispered, "I'm shocked. I would think a Wise Girl like you would come up with a better plan than just sneaking up behind the boy who's invincible." Then he winked and closed the gap between our lips.

Thinking back, I don't remember who won that game. Percy and I kind of dropped out after that. But even if it turns out that my team lost (which I doubt is what happened because I _always_ win), I wouldn't care because I got to make out with my unbelievably perfect boyfriend. I also lost my hat after Percy threw it off. Another camper found it just days after Percy disappeared, but I was too depressed to be thankful so I just threw it in a storage box.

_Gods, _I thought. _Does everything in my life have to somehow relate to Percy?_

But there was no way I was about to cry. So I picked myself up, put on a brave face, and thanked Thalia for finding it like it was no big deal.

I grabbed my backpack from off the floor and threw it over my shoulder. Just before I was about to put my cap on, Thalia spoke. "Hey, Annabeth?" She paused, looking deep in thought. After her thought process, she sighed. "Good luck finding Percy. I hope you do."

I grinned. "Me too." I quickly pulled her into a tight hug before fitting my cap on my head and vanishing into thin air.

* * *

><p>Getting out of Camp Half-Blood was the easy part (thanks to Thalia and her ability to think). Getting to the amusement park, not so easy.<p>

Of course, I didn't have Argus to drive me and I didn't have a car of my own. So that meant I had to walk. And just to make things even more difficult, I couldn't remember where this place was. So I'm off to a great start...

After I made it out of the woods, I just fallowed the dirt road that leads to the highway which leads into town where I'd catch a bus to the amusement park. That was my plan anyway.

I had been walking for about an hour and a half when my back started realizing how heavy my backpack actually was with everything in it. Then a little later, my legs started noticing how hard walking ten miles is with only one bite of a waffle with whipped cream and strawberries was. Finally, the sun decided to make a direct appearance which wasn't helping anything. I ended up stopping just up ahead by a tree for a much needed break.

I pulled out my box it Ritz and started munching on a few. Looking down the road, I still couldn't see the highway. I groaned. I don't know what it was, maybe the lack of food, water and friends with me, but something was making me slip up. I would think that this would be the quest I was most determined to do, but I'm already tired, I've been jumping at the slightest sounds hoping that it wasn't a monster even though I know I'd be able to beat it, and I haven't been thinking all day. Or thinking _well_ I should say. I mean, I'm Annabeth Chase, daughter of _Athena!_ I've just been throwing that at myself all day.

After sitting there for a while, I figured I should get moving again. The faster I get moving, the faster I get to see Percy again. And I kept telling myself that as I started repositioning. _The faster I get moving, the faster I get to see Percy again. The faster I get moving, the faster I get to see Percy again._

Only that thought started relaxing me for some reason. …_the faster I get to see Percy again. _

I leaned up against the tree in the shade. …_I get to see Percy again._

_Percy. My Seaweed Brain. _

And just like that, I was asleep, awaiting dreams filled with a certain dark haired Kelp Head.

* * *

><p>I was woken up by the sound of a truck coming down the road. It was one of those old, red, country ones you see in movies all the time. Whoever was driving noticed me sitting there and came to a stop in front of me.<p>

It was a boy about my age driving—maybe a little older. He had spiky blond hair that was gelled up in the front, and was wearing a blue button up shirt and aviators. His car was covered in dirt but he had the windows rolled down anyways, looking not afraid of any dust that might come in.

"Hey," he said with a southern accent. "Need a lift?"

I shook my head while standing up. "No thanks, I'll walk."

"Oh, c'mon. It's no trouble at all," he said, smiling.

I shook my head again. "I have a boyfriend." Okay, so that was a total lie because I had just broken up with Eli and Percy wasn't technically my boyfriend anymore. But I wasn't in the mood to be around any other boy besides Percy.

"I'm not tryin' to hit on ya," he promised. "Just tryin' to show some of our southern hospitality."

I raised an eyebrow. "_Our?" _I asked.

"Hop in the truck and I'll tell ya." He had a sweet smile and I do have to admit, his accent was kind of sexy. I didn't want to push it any further, but I didn't want to hurt his feelings either. I climbed in.

He told me I could drop my stuff in the back seat. "What's your name?" he asked.

"Annabeth Chase," I replied shaking his hand.

"Nice to meet ya, Annabeth," he said while taking off his aviators. His eyes were light brown which gave him the look of complete innocence and, although I didn't want to say it, extreme hotness. "I'm Charlie Hunter."

I thanked him for the ride then told him that I was heading into town. "What's in town?"

"I'm going to see an old friend." Well, it wasn't a total lie. I _am _going to meet an old friend, except he's just not in _that _town—at least I don't think he is.

"And you planned on walkin' all the way there?" he asked chuckling under his breath.

"I didn't have a car, okay?" I said not being able to hide giggling at myself at how stupid I must've looked sitting on the side of the road.

He laughed. "Well at least you have loyalty. I like loyalty in a girl." He smirked.

"Hey," I said turning towards him. "You said you weren't hitting on me."

"And I'm not," he said. "I was just statin' a fact."

I smirked. There was a short silence so he flipped on the radio to some country station. _So I will sail my vessel…'Til the river runs dry…Too many times we stand aside...And let the waters slip away…_ "So, what were you doing driving on a road that goes to nowhere?" I asked.

"The folks bought a summer house up here when I was young," he said. "I'm from Athens, Tennessee originally."

I stifled a giggle at the irony. "What?" he said.

"Nothing," I said. "Just thought of something funny." _'Til what we put off 'til tomorrow...It has now become today...So don't you sit upon the shoreline ...And say you're satisfied_

He shrugged with a half-smile. "So my summer home is just a few towns away. Folks said I could borrow the car for the day. Just been drivin' around, enjoyin' summer. Then I saw you there lookin' lost. I was actually glad to have somethin' to do."

I smirked. "What happened to '_southern hospitality'_?" He shrugged while grinning. I playfully hit him. _Choose to chance the rapids…And dare to dance that tide...And I will sail my vessel…'Til the river runs dry…_

We continued down the dirt road then eventually turned on the highway—the whole time, laughing and sharing stories. I have to admit, he was _very_ charming.

But not as charming as Percy.

* * *

><p>Turns out that Charlie knew exactly where the amusement park was. He used to go there when he'd come up here when he was little. I told him that I was "meeting my friend at the amusement park" and he offered to drive me so that I wouldn't have to take the city bus. I don't know if I said yes so I didn't have to ride the bus or if it was so I could talk to Charlie longer.<p>

_You're going to find _Percy_,_ I kept telling myself. _Percy._ From there I could easily slip into daydreams about him.

When we got there, it was about four-thirty. Sense it was summer, the sun was still high in the sky. I grabbed my backpack and climbed out. I said good-bye and was starting to walk away when Charlie called out. "Hey, Annabeth?"

I turned around. "Yeah?"

Charlie reached into his back seat and grabbed a crumpled up piece of paper and a pen. He scribbled something down and handed it to me. "You keep in touch, alrigh'?" He smiled, put his aviators on and drove away.

I looked down at the paper and saw his number in sloppy handwriting. I blushed and tucked the paper in my backpack.

I turned towards the entrance of the park. It was just as I remembered it—little kids with their parents were coming out, big groups of teenagers were going in, and the whole place smelt of fried food and wood. I could even see the loops of the roller coaster that Percy and I went on after I ate those Funnel Cakes on our first official date. I shuttered. Bad memories with that coaster.

But I rolled my shoulders back, took a deep breath and grabbed Percy's note that I had been keeping in my pocket. "Okay, Percy," I mumbled to myself. "Where are you?"

* * *

><p><strong>lot of page breaks in that one . but oh well !<strong>

**Review babes. Gotta know if my story's still good. **

**-kenna(:**


	5. Hearts & Hard Questions

**ok so this is my last update for the next two weeks. Sorry! But i'm off to camp(: Thank you SOOOOO much to everyone who reviewed and favorited and alerted last chap ! oh & i didn't have time to edit so sorry if its not as neat as usual ..**

**Enjoy Hearts & Hard Questions (:**

* * *

><p>I had only been in the park for about five minutes and I had already seen a teenage couple break-up, two kids get sick, three guys who were putting graffiti on the side of a bathroom, and that same couple from earlier make out a minute later.<p>

Lovely.

I didn't really know where I was supposed to be going or what I was supposed to be looking for. I thought about it, and I don't really know why I was here anyway. There's no way Percy could've been here for four years. Plus, there's still more clues. I haven't read them yet, but I have a feeling that I probably shouldn't until I figure out the previous one. I don't know why, but hopefully I'll find out.

Maybe that's why Percy's sent me here—maybe he left something or there's some other type of clue that'll help me. Like an Across-the-USA (or, as far as I know, a worldwide) scavenger hunt. I went with my guesses and started looking around at the places I had memories with Percy here—the Break-A-Plate game stand where Percy won me a giraffe stuffed animal, the roller coaster where the workers made us get off because we were laughing too hard about something that Percy said and we were "causing a disturbance", even the trash can that I threw up in after eating those funnel cakes—but I didn't find anything.

It's hard looking for something when you have no idea what you're looking for, or even if it's _there. _Before I knew it, it was almost seven at night. The park didn't close until ten, but the sun was starting to go down and I didn't know where I'd be staying that night.

I sighed and sat down on a nearby bench. I looked up and noticed the same _break-up-make-up_ couple from when I first walked in was stepping into a love tunnel, hand in hand. I smirked.

_Wait a second_. I looked at the name. _Aphrodite's Tunnel of Love_. Then I remembered something. Percy and I went on that. At first it was awkward because I could tell we were both thinking about our first quest when we had to escape a bugged water park through that tunnel of love—but then we both laughed and just prayed to Hephaestus that he didn't bug this one too. I wasn't in the mood for more robotic spiders.

The cool thing about that ride though is that you could buy a little heart sticky note for a dollar and write whatever you wanted on it. Then you could go to the walls of the tunnel and stick it on. Workers would take them down at the end of the summer, but Percy and I wanted ours to stay there so we could look at it years later—so we hid it.

I sucked in a breath. I knew what he wanted me to find.

He must've come back and done something with our paper heart—maybe he wrote on it or left something else with it or something—but there was no doubt in my mind that he wanted me to find it. I stood up and marched over to the side of the tunnel.

I remember perfectly where we put the heart: sixteen bricks over from the end and eleven up from the bottom. That brick was loose when we made ours, so we took the brick out, stuck the heart in the back and put the brick back in place before any workers could see.

I walked up to the wall and counted silently counted sixteen over and eleven up. Once I found it, I looked around to make sure no one was watching, and slowly started pulling the brick—

"Watch out!" someone screamed from my right.

I jumped back just in time for a metal ladder to fall right where I was standing just seconds before. I took a quick breath to slow my heart beat before searching for whoever dropped it. A dark-haired boy about my age ran to my side. "Oh my gosh, Ma'am, I am so sorry!" he said quickly. I guess I was so distracted that I didn't notice the construction being done on the walls. Or that a clumsy boy was trying to move a ladder.

"I'm _so_ sorry!" he said again. "I was starting to move it over, but I just lost my grip. I'm so sorry!"

"It's okay, really," I assured him, laughing at his constant apologies. "What are you doing anyway?"

"Oh," he said. "I was assigned to replace some of bricks that started during the last summer storm." Personally, I couldn't recall ever _having_ a summer storm. But, of course, that's probably because I've been at camp and it never rains there. "Someday, I hope to build my _own_ stuff. But until then, I'm stuck doing stuff like this." He gestured to the tunnel.

My eyes lit up. "You want to be an _architect?_"

He nodded. "I'm in school for it now."

"Me too!" I squealed. "Well, I'm not in school for it yet. But I want to be."

He smiled. "That's so cool," he said. "What are you in school for now?"

The question kind of caught me off guard. I couldn't tell him that I've been putting off college for four years because I've been too busy rebuilding Olympus, so I just tried to answer a truthfully as I could.

"I haven't chosen my major yet," I said with a shrug.

He looked a little confused. "But if you know you want to be an architect, why are you waiting to choose your major?" Oh, crap. He's right. I'm really off today.

"I…err…my parents want me to think about it a little while longer. You know, just in case," I lied. Actually, that was probably one of the biggest lies that I've ever told because Athena, my dad and my step-mom all love that I want to be an architect. Athena even says that she doesn't think I'll need school because I'm already an architect—I'm rebuilding Olympus, aren't I?—which is probably true.

He nodded. "Oh, okay. Cool."

I started studying his features without really realizing it. His eyes were dark blue, but there was something in them that brightened him up. His nose was like a button nose—it pointed slightly up at the end. His hair was neatly cut, like in the way that a perfect school-boy would cut his hair. And to top it all off, he had a few dark, perfectly circular freckles splashed across his cheeks. He was definitely cute. But more like teddy-bear cute than hot, which I actually found really attractive.

"I'm Jason," he said, extending his hand.

"Annabeth," I said smiling.

I don't know how long we stood there talking, but I didn't mind because we never once lost a conversation. I found out that he's actually really smart. Not only did he know almost everything about architecture, but he also knew a lot about history and art and even a little Greek Mythology—what he _thinks _are myths, at least. We started our own game of where we'd try to stump each other on questions about anything.

"What year was the Leaning Tower of Pisa built in?" he asked me.

"It started in 1173 and was completed in 1399," I said smirking. "Why does it _lean_?" I asked.

"It started sinking after the first three of eight stories were built," he said without missing a beat. I shook my head in disbelief. He probably knew even more than _I_ did. Jason started tapping his lips with his pointer finger as if he were deep in thought. Then he smiled and turned his attention back towards me.

"What were you doing before if you didn't buy a heart?" he asked.

My eyes widened a little bit. I don't know how or why, but this question was harder than when he asked me who the emperor of Japan was during World War Two (Emperor Hirohito). But I told myself to relax. I'm never going to see this guy again, right? I might as well tell him the truth. "My boyfriend and I hid a heart here a long time ago. I just wanted to see if it was still here."

His eyes were suddenly not as bright. "Oh," he said quietly. "How long have you been together?"

I looked down. "Actually we broke up. Well, technically we never did…I don't know. It's complicated," I answered extremely truthfully.

His eyes brightened just a touch. "Oh, ok. Well do you need help finding it?" he asked.

I shook my head. "I know where it is," I said. "But thanks."

He nodded. "Yeah, no problem," he said smiling. I couldn't help but smile back.

There was our first awkward silence of the night before he looked back at me, yet again, smiling. "What year did Utah become a state?"

I frowned. "I…I don't know." I don't know who was more shocked, me or him.

But then Jason smirked. "1896. I guess I win." I returned his smirk.

Yeah, Jason was pretty smart.

But not as smart as Percy.

Well, sometimes.

* * *

><p>Jason had to go back to work, but before he left, he slipped me his company's business card and told me to call anytime I needed an answer. I don't really know what he meant, but he said it in a way that made me blush. I stuck the card in the same place that I put Charlie's number.<p>

After he left, my head actually cleared a little bit and I realized that the park would be closing soon. I still didn't have the heart—which was most likely sitting behind the brick I've been standing next to for the past hour—and I didn't have a place to stay for the night or a way to get there.

Well first things first, I had to get the heart. Then I thought came to me: what if the heart isn't even what Percy wanted me to get? I silently prayed to the gods as I quickly pulled out the brick. I was just surprised they still hadn't fixed it.

I dropped the brick to the ground and stuck my hand inside the hole where it used to be. I felt around for a second before I felt the edge of something made of paper. I smiled and grabbed it, pulling it out. Then, I quickly stuffed the brick back in place and looked down at the paper heart.

The color had faded from a hot pink to now more of a dull pink. It was indented from all the years of it being curled around a brick and there was a small tare at the bottom. But for how the past four years have gone for me, it was the most beautiful thing I've seen in a while.

The writing was still there, but it too was starting to fade. _Annabeth + Percy, Heroes of Olympus_ it said. Then below it were two hearts. I felt tears behind my eyes even though I didn't know why this would make me cry. Maybe just the idea that this was the closest thing I've had to Percy sense he broke my heart by running away. I took all my strength not to crinkle the heart up and run into the bathroom and cry like a teenage girl would do at prom on drama shows.

But something looked different on the heart. Right below the "T" in my name, there was a few dots of ink that I knew weren't there when we wrote it. I turned the heart over and found a drawing, and I knew Percy had drawn it because one; it was in waterproof ink and two; it looked like a three year old had drawn it. So because of his poor drawing skills it took me a few minutes to detect what it was.

It was an owl. It looked kind of like the owl from _Winnie the Pooh_, it even had its own poorly drawn glasses, but I already knew what he was trying to say: the owl is the Symbol of Athena.

I didn't know how that was important to whatever I was doing, but I knew it wouldn't be good—Percy and my mom don't exactly get along very well. Whenever either of them says something about the other, it's never positive. I'm surprised that my mother hasn't turned him into a pile of ash yet—not that I would want him turned into a pile of ash.

"Percy," I whispered to myself. "What in Hades did you do?"

Then I quietly pulled the brick back out and put the note back inside, hoping that'd it'd still be there in another four years for me to come back and see.

But this time, Percy would be coming with me.

* * *

><p><strong>Review babes. Love you all. -kenna(:<strong>


	6. Awkward Moments & Another Clue

**back from camp ! (: going to a different one again next week . sorry ! busy summer . so here's a nice long chapter !**

**but for now enjoy Awkward Moments & Another Clue (:**

* * *

><p><em>2. Who's going to see you?<em>

That was the second hint. I was glancing at it while I was making my way out of the park. This one was easy. It probably meant somewhere that we hid on a quest or maybe he wants me to do something illegal and is telling me that no one will see me. I was too tired to think more about it at that point. I'd just figure it out in the morning.

Only then did I realize that it was already dark and I didn't have a place to stay. I mean, sure I've slept in the woods, in a corridor of the labyrinth, and even on a couch in the Plaza with the war against the Titan's going on right outside, but all of those were when I had somebody else with me—more specifically, Percy—which made all of those awkward places _way _more comfortable. But because I didn't have a car, I didn't really have a choice.

Until…

"Annabeth!" a familiar southern voice called. I looked into the parking lot and saw Charlie by his car. He had his aviators in hand and his hair looked like it had been re-gelled.

I raised an eyebrow even though I was thankful that he was here. "Oh, hey, Charlie," I said. "What are you doing back here?"

"I keep my mail in my car," he said. "I was thinkin' I might've dropped some when I was droppin' ya off." _Liar,_ I thought to myself. The only door that had opened when he was dropping me off was mine and I never knocked anything else. I would've noticed.

"Did you find it?" I played along.

"Yes, ma'am." I giggled.

After a short, awkward silence, I cleared my throat. "Charlie, can I ask you another favor?"

"Shoot," he said.

"Well," I mumbled. "I don't really have a place to stay tonight," I realized how bad that must've sounded after I said it, so I quickly added, "So I was hoping that you could give me a ride to the nearest motel."

He stared at me for a second with a concerned look, but thankfully didn't say anything. It wouldn't have been very easy to explain that I snuck out of a camp that he couldn't see because of something called the Mist and I couldn't go back until I found my long lost possibly ex-boyfriend who I was still in love with. Instead, he just nodded and said, "Absolutely."

I climbed in and we headed off. He asked me if I had a good time with my friend and I said yes. Then I came up with a fake story about us dancing on stage with a band that was playing tonight to make my story sound more believable just in case. Usually I wasn't this paranoid, but without other friends there to back me up if I ever got caught up, I just got nervous.

But what else made me paranoid is that I had been outside of camp boundaries for almost twelve hours now and not one monster has tried to attack me. I know that the war is over and the monsters have died down and all, but I still know of campers who are attacked by even going out of the boarders to grab a strawberry. And I'm pretty sure whenever someone gets these kinds of thoughts—when they're trying to wait for something and be prepared—you get nervous that it could happen at any moment. The dark skies and nearly full moon didn't help that. I subconsciously scooted closer to Charlie.

By the time we arrived in a small town of only six-hundred seventy three people, it was midnight. All the town had was a gas station, a café, a tiny strip mall, and—thankfully—an old motel which I thought was called _LOD OUNCYT NNI,_ but after focusing, it read _OLD COUNTY INN. _Except a few of the letters were burned out on the sign so it actually read _OL CO N Y NN._

Charlie parked the car and I stepped out. As I was about to turn around and say goodbye for real this time, Charlie climbed out as well. "Now it's time for me to ask _you_ a favor," he said in his cute southern accent.

"Shoot," I repeated from before.

"I'm not really excited about having to drive four hours home at night, so I was hopin' you'd be okay with me chashin' here as well?" It came out as more of a question, but he probably was meaning it to be.

"Yeah, no problem," I said honestly. "Want to go get our rooms?"

"See this is the _favor_ part," he said nervously. "I don't have enough money to buy a room _and _enough gas to get me back home. Would you mind if we'd just share one? I figure it wouldn't be too bad of a trade considering all the gas money you owe me." He smirked jokingly.

I returned his smirk. "Yes, I guess that does even out." I paused, considering. I came to the simple conclusion that this could either be no problem, or be extremely awkward. But I needed a ride and he wanted a place to stay. What else was I supposed to do? "No, I don't mind."

He smiled. "Thanks," he said.

A girl about my age with jet black hair and tattoos from head to toe checked us into a room. I overheard her chuckle at us on our way out. I rolled my eyes while blushing.

We walked into the room and I immediately noticed something. All that there was in the room was a table, two chairs, a dresser, a TV, a bathroom, and a bed. _One_ bed. I blushed even harder. Charlie seemed to realize this two because he uncomfortably rubbed the back of his head and glanced at me.

"I'll sleep on the floor if ya want," he said.

"You sure?" I asked.

"Yes ma'am. It's just for one night."

I just nodded. I grabbed one of the pillows off my bed and gave it to him. He grabbed one of the spare blankets from under the bed as well and lied down to my left. Sense we didn't have anything else to sleep in, we both just crashed with our clothes on.

Charlie seemed to fall asleep the moment his head hit the pillow. I took a little longer but eventually started thinking about Seaweed Brain and drifted off as well.

* * *

><p>"<em>He's gone?" I screamed. "What do you mean he's <em>gone?_"_

"_He wasn't in his cabin and we've searched all over camp," Chiron said while trying to calm me down. "He just vanished."_

_Disbelief filled my eyes. "Well obviously you're not looking hard enough, 'cause there's no way Percy would just _leave_." _

_Chiron rubbed the back of his neck. "See, that's what we were thinking too," he said. "So we think he must've gotten capture or hurt somewhere outside of the boundaries." _

"_PERCY WOULDN'T HAVE LEFT THE CAMP!" I screamed hoping to make myself believe it as well. He wouldn't have just left without me—or at least not without _telling_ me… would he? I started choking up._

"_Annabeth, please," Chiron said. "We'll do everything we can to find him. Don't worry."_

_Tears started filling my eyes, but I nodded anyway. _He must've gotten captured, _I said to myself._ He's gotten himself out of it before. He'll be fine. Percy _will_ come back.

_Even with Chiron's calming guarantee, I still had this feeling in the pit of my stomach. Like when you know something bad is going to happen. _

Then my dream changed. Suddenly, instead of standing in Mess Hall like I was before, I was sitting in my bunk with my head in my hands.

"_I will _not_ just 'give up'," I hissed to Chiron. _

"_Annabeth," he said sadly. "It's been a year. We've searched all over the country." _

"_So?" I said through my teeth. "We didn't look hard enough. He's still out there. I can feel it."_

_Chiron lowered his head. "I'm sure wherever he is, he's happy—whether it be Atlantis or Elysium."_

_I looked him dead in the eye and glared. "He's _not_ dead."_

_Chiron sighed. "He may not be dead, Annabeth, but I'm calling off the searches either way because there is one thing that he _is._ He's…just gone."_

The last word echoed constantly in my ears and started to get louder and louder. I tried to cover my ears, but my body wasn't responding. In fact, I couldn't move anything. It was like I was suddenly made of stone.

I sat bolt upright and was breathing heavily and my face was soaked with tears. The clock on the dresser said it was four in the morning.

"Somethin' wrong?" Charlie said in a raspy voice. It was actually quite sexy.

"Err…no," I said, quickly wiping the tears off my face. "Just…bad dreams."

Charlie didn't look fooled. "Ya wanna talk 'bout it?"

I paused, the last "Gone" still fresh in my mind. Finally, I shook my head while looking at my feet.

He nodded. "Ya think you'll be able to get back to sleep?"

I twisted my mouth. Truthful answer? Probably not. "Can I ask you something if you promise not to take it in a really weird way?" _Like Percy would've done just to make me mad_, I added. But then I would hit him while laughing and we'd end up back under our tree either talking or, more likely, making out. _Seaweed Brain…_

A fresh tear slipped down my cheek while I quickly wiped off. "Ya, no problem," he answered. "What do ya need?"

I pointed to the other side of the bed. "Will you…sleep with me please?" I said quietly. "And again, don't take that in a wrong way."

He chuckled but stood up and moved around to the other side of the bed. He climbed in and helped me get comfortable, which ended up being my head buried in his shoulder and his arms around my waist. And as guilty as I felt, I didn't have any trouble falling back asleep.

So yeah, he was also sweet.

But nowhere _near_ as sweet as Percy.

* * *

><p>I woke up a bit too comfortable than I should've in a motel room bed. Looking up, I saw Charlie still sleeping and his hands still around me. I tried to look at the clock as best as I could without waking him, but ended up turning too far and rolling right off the bed. This definitely woke him up.<p>

Like the charming country man that he is, Charlie quickly hopped out of bed and helped me up.

"Thanks," I grumbled, embarrassed.

"No problem," he said.

We both took showers and straightened our clothes out which made us not look like we slept in a motel together, which I was happy to try and avoid. After his shower, he came out and grabbed his car keys. "So are ya ready to go?"

I shrugged. "I don't even know where I'm going," I mumbled.

He scrunched his eyebrows but didn't say anything. "Well, once ya figure it out, tell me. We don't have to check out until noon so we still got a couple hours." I nodded.

While he flipped on the TV, I secretly pulled out the note again.

_2. Who's going to see you? _I didn't even know where to start with this one. I growled to myself and walked over to the window.

All I could see was the parking lot, a rundown grocery store, and the motel's sign with the few burned out letters. I grumbled to myself.

Another hour passes of me just staring at the ground trying to figure out where Percy wanted me to go next and Charlie watching an old Peanuts special.

He noticed that I suddenly started watching him like he was pathetic and smiled. "Growin' up, I always loved the Peanuts 'cause me and Charlie Brown shared the same name. And when you're young, you always make stupid little connections like that." I laughed and agreed.

"Well," I said after another few minutes of the Peanuts. "I don't want you families to worry about where you are any longer so you can just take me to the town's strip mall."

He looked at me like I was crazy. "Ya sure?"

"Yeah," I said. "I'll just catch the next bus."

He shrugged and turned off the TV. "Yes ma'am," he said with a smile.

Half an hour later, I was saying goodbye to Charlie for, hopefully, the last time. I don't know how many more times I could be around him without doing something even stupider than inviting him into my bed because I had a bad dream.

I sat at their local coffee shop and looked around. There were pictures up all over about the town's history—there was a picture of an old ice cream shop, about a dozen men all huddled together holding up fish, and even one of the motel we stayed at. Except at that point, all the letters were lit up.

I don't know what happened, or how, my suddenly my mind started racing—so fast that I started getting a head ache. Then, all at once, it stopped. I looked back again at the picture and something clicked.

I suddenly thought back to my first quest ever with Percy and Grover. We went to that old water park _WATERLAND_ and I remembered noticing that some of their letters were burned out too. I don't know why I made this specific connection because I had seen lots of other signs with burned out letters and I don't know what it had to do with anything. But when I'd try to concentrate on something else, I just couldn't.

I closed my eyes and gave into it. _"Who's going to see you?" _a familiar voice said. And it sounded so clear, like I had heard it before.

_"…You always make stupid little connections like that," _I remembered Charlie saying.

_Wait. _I thought. I looked back at the picture of the motel.

The burned out letters. Percy's simple mind. _"Who's going to see you?" _

It all clicked. Percy said that to me on our first quest when I was embarrassed to go with him into the Tunnel of Love to get Ares' shield. In Waterland.

"Excuse me miss," a woman said from behind the counter. "Can I get you anything?"

"Yes," I said quickly. "I need the bus schedule. I need to leave as soon as possible."

* * *

><p><strong>please please please review ! love you all ! -kenna(:<strong>


	7. Buses & Bastards

**sorry for the late update ! i had camp then a lot of stuff going on which didn't give me a lot of free time to write . thank you so much for all the reviews from the last chapter !**

**but anyways , here's Buses & Bastards (: enjoy !**

* * *

><p><em>His lips were so soft and kissable. His arms wrapped around me, which made me feel safe and protected even though we both knew very well that I could take care of myself when the time came. He pulled back from my lips. Obviously he could see the look of disappointment on my face because he grinned and let out a chuckle. <em>

"_I just wanted to look at your eyes," he whispered to me, his breath tickling my neck._

_I pouted. "You see them every day."_

"_I know," he replied. "And every time I do, they're always breathtaking." _

_I giggled. "You're so cheesy, Seaweed Brain."_

_He shrugged. "You never know when the day will come when I won't be able to see them again." Then he pulled me back into his lips before I could say anything else._

I opened my eyes, but I wasn't in the arms of Percy like I was in my dream. I was slouching in an uncomfortable seat in the back of a city bus. I had been on it for at least four hours by now—I didn't really think through how far the Amtrak station was from where I was, but luckily the bus ride had given me some time to myself for some extra sleep and (_blush_) dreaming.

I've had a lot of dreams like that ever since Percy left—all are crystal clear pictures of times that Percy and I have shared from the point of when we first started dating to when he left. And all are times when Percy has said something that I didn't understand at the time; but I do now.

I sat up straighter and stretched out as best as I could without disturbing the elderly woman sitting in front of me who also seemed to be taking a nap.

"Excuse me," a scratchy voice whispered towards me. I looked over and saw another guy my age standing in the isle next to my seat. He had wavy black hair and dark eyes that somehow reflected serenity and softness. I could see a little stubble starting as well. He also had a smile that was more of a soft smirk than a real smile at all. But what really caught my eye about him, he was holding my backpack. "Is this yours?"

"Err…yeah," I said while grabbing it back.

"I found it under my seat," he explained, pointing to where his seat was a few rows ahead of me. "It must've slid off your seat while you were dozing off. I found it about forty-five minutes ago, but I didn't want to wake you up because you looked like you needed some sleep."

Actually that wasn't true because I had just had a perfectly comfortable half-night's sleep at the motel, but I definitely needed another dream to remind me of Percy. Even though it had only been a day since I had left Camp Half-Blood, I already had that feeling in my gut like I knew this was all a big waste of time. I got it every time that I went out searching for Percy, but this time was different. This time I _knew_ I could find him, and I always listen to my mind. These dreams might just be the only thing that'll keep reminding me why I'm going through with this _again._

"Oh," I said sounding kind of dumb-struck. "Well, thank you."

"No problem." He half-smiled one last time then turned away. I returned the half-smile even though he couldn't see me then I repositioned myself back in my seat.

I leaned my head up against the window and let my eyes droop, but right before I could let sleep take me, the bus jerked to a stop. I was thrown forward and hit my head on the seat. "Ow," I grumbled to myself.

I looked out the window and saw that we were just about in the middle of nowhere. There wasn't even a bus stop here—the bus driver just stopped us in the middle of a two-lane road. On the other side of the road was a run-down gas station, an old billboard, and a place that still gave me nightmares even to this day; Aunty Em's Garden Gnome Emporium—A.K.A., Medusa's lair.

My breath caught in my throat. The bus driver pushed open the doors and someone stepped on. I cursed when I saw who it was.

"Annabeth!" Eli yelled when he saw me. He ran down the aisle up to where I was sitting, but not in the 1990's-movie-with-a-couple-who-just-saw-each-other-after-many-years-while-on-the-beach sort of way. In plain English, he looked pissed. "Where the hell have you been!" His usually soft green eyes looked almost black.

"I-I…err…I—" I stuttered.

"So you leave to go find your dumb-ass ex-boyfriend who left you _four effing years ago—_"

"Eli, wha—"

"And all you leave is an effing _letter_ that you left _Thalia_ to give to me?"

"Eli!" I screamed. We had attracted the attention of the whole bus, including the bus driver who hadn't even started moving again. I tried not to blush with embarrassment, but I kept arguing anyway. "What is with you! And why the hell are you here?"

He started laughing to himself in the way that really meant that nothing was funny. "I've put up with your bullshit about this Percy guy for over a year now. Why? Because I figured you'd get over him. And so now even though he left, you're going on yet _another_ quest to try to find him? That's cute, Annabeth. And I'll bet if somehow you do find him before you cripple and die, he won't want you anymore."

Tears came to my eyes and I looked to the floor. "Yes, he will," I growled.

Eli grabbed my wrist a little too tightly and forced me to look back at him. "No, he won't," he growled right back. "Why would he? Why would anyone want _you? _You're just a whiny little bitch who gets hooked on the past too easily."

A tear slipped down my cheek but my mouth stayed in a pursed line. I tried to free myself from his grip, but for some reason I couldn't. I thought back to in my dream where I thought I could take care of myself; and usually I could, but something this time was making me...weaker.

Eli kept going. "All the times I've left you alone so you could daydream about him, all the times that I've had to come into your cabin because you were having nightmares about him leaving, all the times that you didn't want to keep going because something I do even _reminds_ you of him;" He shook his head and glared at me. "That letter never happened, got it? I'm not about to just throw away all the bullshit you've put me through just so you can run back into the arms of a guy who left you and would _never_ treat you as good as I have this past year. You're still with me, got it?" His grip tightened on my wrist and I let out a small whimper.

I glared a little harder. "You didn't answer my question," I said through my teeth. "What in Hades name are you doing here?"

"I was looking for you," he growled. "Once we realized you were gone again, I asked Chiron if he had any idea of where you might've gone this time. He said that you might've retraced your steps from your first quest with Percy just so you could remember him, so I went to Aunty Em's. It was just luck that you happened to be on the same bus that I was boarding when you weren't there. So I guess it's a good thing that I left when I did." His grip tightened even more and I left out another soft whimper.

"Hey," someone said. I peaked over Eli's shoulder and saw the guy who gave me my backpack back was tapping Eli on the shoulder. "Let go of her."

Eli smirked and let go. I rubbed my wrist and took a step away from him. I had _never_ seen Eli act like this. He had always been the almost-too-perfect-boyfriend. Now looking at it, I'm _glad_ I didn't stay with that bastard.

Eli turned towards the backpack guy. "Why does it matter?" he said. He had at least six inches over backpack guy, but backpack guy didn't back down. "What is she to you?"

"She's a human," backpack guy said clearly to make sure everyone on the bus could hear. "Not only that, but she's a woman. And women should never, _ever_ be treated like that." He gestured to me still rubbing my wrist. Seriously, he had a really strong grip on me.

Eli squared him shoulders towards backpack guy and in one swift movement, he punched him with a right hook—right on his jaw. Backpack guy stumbled into a seat which luckily didn't have anyone in it.

"HEY!" the bus driver screamed back to us. He pointed right at Eli. "YOU! OFF MY BUS!"

Eli just held his head high like he didn't care. Just as he started back down the aisle, I said one last word to him.

"Asshole."

"Bitch."

* * *

><p>Another hour passed on the bus. Even though my first quest was nine years ago, I thankfully had a clear enough memory of where we went after Medusa's lair to keep track of where I was now and where I needed to be going—Denver.<p>

I had some time to think about what I needed to do. I needed to get to the Amtrak station which—thankfully—should now be only a few minutes. I would catch a train to Denver and figure out the rest from there. The train ride I remember took about two days. The funny thing was that I wasn't more worried about the fact that I'd be on a train with no way out if a monster came than I was about how bored I'll be.

After Eli was thrown off the bus just after getting on—personally, I don't really care where he goes from there. He can go rot in Tartarus for all i care—, I helped up backpack guy and hadn't stopped thanking him since. We started talking and I learned a few things about him; his name was Andrew Collins, he worked for NASA but he was on a two week vacation right now, and his mom was French and Dutch and his dad was Puerto Rican and American. Also, he was a _total_ hopeless romantic.

During our conversations, he would somehow be able to add in compliments and even some pick-up lines that somehow never sounded awkward or weird—he was somehow able to make them sound natural. That, of course, made me think that it's because he's had practice on girls before, but even if he had, he still made me feel…amazing.

When he asked me stuff about _my_self, I told him I was a college student on my way back to Colorado for my next semester, that I was a striving architect, and that I was originally from California but I was visiting my mom in New York. Most of it wasn't a complete lie; I _was_ going to Colorado but not for college, I _was_ an architect but a successful one, and I _am_ from California and technically Athena lives in New York. And even though I'm a bad liar, he never looked in doubt if I was telling the truth or not.

Andrew mentioned that he was on his way to the airport to fly back down to Florida where he lives. He said he was visiting some friends up here for his vacation but now he needed to head back to work.

"Amtrak Station," the bus driver said over the intercom as he came to a squealing stop in front of the train station.

"Well," I said to Andrew as I slung my backpack over my shoulder. "I guess that's me."

He stood up to meet my eyes. "I'm going to miss those stunning gray eyes of yours," he said softly. I blushed. Then I, once again, thought of my dream from earlier and my throat tensed. "Take care, Annabeth." He quickly kissed my cheek, but like everything else, it didn't seem out of place or awkward in any way.

"Thanks for the help today," I said again. "I really appreciate it."

"If any man tries to hurt you again," he said seriously. "You know where to find me." My pocket suddenly felt heavy from the three numbers that I've gotten in the past two days. I just nodded and smiled before saying goodbye and walking into the station. I silently cheered to myself that I finally got some direction to where Percy was. I actually got the feeling that I was going to find him, and I _know_ he'll still want me. Screw Eli.

So, yeah, Andrew was romantic.

But not as romantic as Percy.

* * *

><p><strong>review lovelies (: <strong>


	8. Glass & Gods

**sorry for the late update . school & shit :P god we get sooo much homework ... sucks to be in one of the top achedemic schools in the country sometimes :P sorry just needed to get that out .**

**enjoy !**

* * *

><p>I never realized the true meaning of loneliness until now.<p>

I was standing on the edge of the run-down water park after two straight days of being on the train. The only words I spoke came when a worker would come by at meal times. The rest of the trip my lips stayed sealed-the whole time wishing the gods would just let me know where Percy was so I wouldn't have to deal with the quiet one minute longer. Luckily, they listened.

I had just gotten off the train when I heard a girl's voice behind me. "This definitely counts as running away."

I turned around and saw a familiar blonde. "Katie!" My squeal was probably a lot louder than it needed to be, but I was just so thankful for someone to talk to that I probably would've squealed if Medusa was here.

"Annabeth! How are you?" She pulled me into a hug. "What are you doing here?"

"Just passing through," I lied quickly. Katie and Travis moved here to Denver once they both turned eighteen. Yeah, I was surprised too. I mean, Katie and _Travis?_ Who would've guessed?

Katie gave me a look like I didn't fool her at all. Just as she opened her mouth to say something, I cut her off. "What are you doing here?" I asked.

"I'm meeting my dad here," she said. "Guess why."

"I give up."

"I'M ENGAGED!" she squealed, then shot her left hand towards me. On her ring finger sat a silver band with the smallest diamond that I've ever seen on an engagement ring. but I wasn't about to say anything because Katie was just about jumping for joy.

"Congratulations." I gave her a small smile.

"Thanks! And, I know, the diamond's tiny. But Travis said that he needed to save up to build a man-cave when we moved out of our apartment."

"What an idiot."

"I know, right? Sometimes I question my sanity."

"I'd question his first."

She giggled. "Good point."

There was a silence between us. People were rushing around us, just trying to get to where they were supposed to be. Just trying to get from point A to point B. If only it were that easy for me, I thought.

"So," Katie said, knocking me out of my thoughts. "If you're just passing through, where are you going?" She had that same look on her face that said that she wouldn't be fooled if I lied. I did anyway.

"I'm...err...visiting my dad," I answered with the most natural face that I could manage.

Katie seemed to play along. "Really. So are you taking another train the rest of the way there?"

"Yes, but I was thinking that I'd spend a day in Denver just so I wouldn't go on train overload."

She smiled. "Probably a good idea. So do you need a ride into town or to the nearest hotel or something?"

"No, thanks," I said.

She took her jacket off. "You sure? It'd be a lot cheaper this way. I mean, we'd only have to wait a few more minutes-"

"Thanks," I said cutting her off, hoping to avoid explaining anything which seemed to be exactly what she wanted me to do. "A ride would be great."

She half-smiled. "Okay. Got any places in mind?"

I thought carefully about my response before saying it. "Actually," I said. "I want to stop somewhere first."

* * *

><p>And now here I am-standing in front of Waterland. Looking at what was left of the place.<p>

Katie was just pulling away with her mom in the front seat. "And Annabeth?"

"Yeah?"

She looked at me with sad eyes and a forced smile. "Say hi to Percy for me." Then with that, she drove away.

So now here I am; standing in front of an abandoned water park. Without any idea about what to do. Alone.

The building itself looked almost exactly as I remember it: tall, locked off gates with barbed wire, random, dried out slides leading to random, dried out pools, and the dreaded Tunnel of Love exit leading out the back with three smashed boats piled up against the gate. The only difference was that part of the roof had collapsed in the back.

I climbed over the fence, holding down the barbed wire now that I was tall enough to do it myself. Inside, the same tourist attractions were there. Even the left-open gift shop hadn't moved an inch. Looking in, I even saw the empty spaces on the wracks were Grover, Percy and I had stolen their clothes so we could change. I sighed then kept moving farther into the park.

Luckily, where the roof had fallen wasn't right over the Tunnel of Love pool, but it was pretty close. Bits of wood and ceiling tile had bounced into the pool. A few of the mirror that had lined the inner-rim of the pool had shattered and others never closed-still showing the pipes where the..._things_...had crawled out of. I shuttered.

I walked over to one of the large Cupid statues that had tumbled over and shattered. Now that it had broken open, I could see all the gears and gold netting that Hephaestus had put in them all those years ago. I could see where all the pieces used to fit together. Then just one mistake happened and everything fell apart. I growled in frustration then walked to the steps leading into the pool.

I was thankful that I was wearing my old tennis shoes because the bottom of the pool was completely covered in glass and slivers of wood. My first thought was to just start kicking things, hoping to find another note or something. At every point that I would get a sliver or slice my hand with some glass, I kept thinking to myself 'This is pointless.' Then I'd remember all the times that I had with Percy under our tree and think about how disgustingly cute he looks when he sleeps and I'd kick another piece of glass away.

I don't know how much time went by of just me kicking around glass hoping to find something. I even started going down the tunnel to where our boat crashed on our first quest. But still nothing. "Are you _kidding_ me?" I finally screamed out once I was standing back over the fallen down statue after hours of looking. "Gods, Percy. Why couldn't you have just told me where you were going? Or better yet, _why _you left!" I started rubbing my temples.

"_You shouldn't scream when no one's around, Annie," _a playful but powerful voice spoke that rattled my head. "_It's not lady like."_

"Who are you?" I asked, not being able to match the voice. I already knew it was a god, obviously. I had a headache to prove that.

_"Annieee," _the god said sounding fake-disappointed. "_Has it really been _that _long since we've talked? I'm hurt." _The god sniffled.

I paused. "Apollo?"

"_Hey, girl,hey!" _Yup, that's Apollo.

"Not that I'm not honored to have you here, sort-of, but...err...why exactly are you in my head?"

_"Because...err..." _I heard him mutter something but I couldn't make out what. "_Well because you're not doing too hot on this journey thing. So I figured that I might pop in to help you out. Now, technically, I'm not supposed to be doing this, but you know what they say: Rules are meant to be bro-"_

"Whoa, whoa! Wait. Who said that you shouldn't be doing this?"

There was a pause. "_Doing what?" _he asked, obviously realizing that he made a mistake.

"_This!_ Talking to me inside my head! Helping me out! Who said you couldn't?"

There was more muttering in the background. "_Err...well it's not that someone told me it's just that when demigods are on quests, technically we're not supposed to help them."  
><em>

I knew this was a lie. If it wasn't for the gods during most of my quests, I'd be chilling in the Underworld right about now.

"Then what were you going to help me with?" I said, growing impatient.

"_Well, Annie, it's obvious that you're not using you're Athena genes right now."_

"I didn't hope for a god's help to be taunted, Apollo."

"_Whoa, look-y who's getting comfortable talking to the gods. Anywoo,_ _I'm here to help you out with this one."_

There was a pause. "Err...okay. Are you going to help?"

_"Well I was waiting for the 'Oh, thank you oh-mighty Apollo! You're so awesome! And-"_

"Apollo."

_"Okay, okay. Geez. Just think back to the last time you came here."_

"What about it?" I asked, confused.

_"Just think about it." _Someone screamed for Apollo to come to them in my head, sending another crashing headache through my mind. I rubbed my temples again. _"Got to go. The sis is having a bad day. I wish you the best Athena girl." _All of a sudden, his voice cut off and a huge pressure was lifted off my head. I had to steady myself so I wouldn't fall into the pool.

"Gods, I hate Apollo sometimes," I grumbled to myself.

I sat there for another half-hour trying to figure out what I was supposed to be thinking about. And trust me, when you're thinking about thinking about something, it hurts your brain. Even as a child of Athena.

"You know what?" I said after many moments of sitting in silence. "Forget it." I stood up and brushed myself off before heading down the hall. I was just about to leave when my natural grace caused me to stumble over one of the cupid statues' arrows.

Again, everything happened so fast. Just like in the coffee shop, my head started spinning, thoughts started racing, and I had to close my eyes so I could concentrate and ignore the pain that came with it. Thoughts about Percy and running away passed though my head. Then came all the guys that have helped me and (gag) flirted with me. Then came memories from when I was a kid and Apollo's booming voice in my head saying 'Just think back'.

Finally I took a deep breath and everything froze. The one thing that I was thinking about was when I came here for my first quest with Percy and Grover. From the point when we climbed the fence to when we stole clothes to when we were trapped by mechanical men in diapers. And my first thought when Percy grabbed the shield. _It's a trap. _

Trap.

I smiled, satisfied with myself as the pressure in my head returned to normal. Then I turned on my heel and walked back out the way I came.

* * *

><p><strong>review ? i think yes . -kenna(:<strong>


	9. Darkness & Diving into Bushes

**sorry about the wait ! finals are next week so after that I'll have a lot less stress which means A LOT more free time(: Anywayssss, OMG 100 REVIEWS !(: actually not only 100 but 114 ! you guys are the best & i love each & every one of you (:**

**ok so here's chapter 9:** **Darkness & Diving into Bushes**** ! enjoyy(:**

* * *

><p>Complete darkness. That's all I could see. It engulfed me, swallowed me up. I couldn't even seem to move. I was just lying there, unable to see, unable to move-then suddenly I was moving, but not in a graceful, natural sort of way. More like I was kicking and trying to scream but I couldn't. In fact, I couldn't even breathe. I was trying to let my breath go but it was like I couldn't-like I had never even learned.<p>

But worst of all, I was struggling, in the darkness, alone.

My eyes shot open and I took in a huge gasp, thanking the gods that I could breathe again. My hand immediately went to my heart and I just sat there and took deep breaths.

The fire that I had made was still burning, so I figured that I had only been asleep for about an hour. I had buried myself in the woods just outside of town after I had left the water park. I figured that it wasn't worth it to waste more money to get a hotel when I could just crash out here. The sky was clear and I had slept in the woods billions of times before, so I figured _What the hell?_

What I didn't plan on, though, was taking hours to get to sleep, then only getting one hour due to a dream that, not only had absolutely nothing to do with the gods or my journey, but didn't have anything to do with anything apart from the being-alone part. I didn't see any point in just sitting there until morning-because I _knew _there was no way I was getting back to sleep-so I put out my fire and headed out to the highway.

I didn't really know where I was going-I didn't really care. Everything about this trip is very un-Athena like anyway, right? This whole time I haven't really thought anything out so what's one more time of winging it going to do to me anyway?

I started walking the opposite way which I had come-away from the town, away from the destroyed water park. Instead I just walked. I tried my best to just focus on the sound of my footsteps on the gravel. I had been doing that a lot recently. But when you're alone like this, not knowing where you're going, when you're going to get there, or even _if _you're going to get there, you have to find things to keep your mind off of those facts.

About three miles down the road, I started studying the stars. I picked out all the constellations I knew, one by one. Then I did some quick math in my head to guess about what time it was judging by the moon. I came to the conclusion that it was about two in the morning. I started picking out more constellations: Orion, Pictor, Hercules. Then I came across one that I didn't recognize right away. I actually stopped in my track just to stare at it.

From what I could tell, it was a girl with an angelic yet determined looking face and she looked like she was holding something. A bow and arrow.

Déjà vu hit me quick when I thought I saw her wink at me. My thoughts drifted back to the horrible days when I was captured by Luke. I had only met Zoë once for a few minutes, but I guess she liked me because she seems to be the only one who's even giving me a wink. Literally. Well at lease _someone_ was looking out for me. I said a quick thank you to Zoë then kept walking.

I walked another couple of miles before stopping. I wasn't as physically tired as I was mentally so I decided that I needed to calm down. Not only had I been freaking out about my dream and letting random thoughts about it cloud my brain, but I'm pretty sure I had been mumbling things to myself for the past little while, which is a sure sign that I'm just about to go completly crazy.

I found a big pile of dirt on the side of the road and sat on it. I pulled out some Ritz and started munching on one. Unfortunately, my brain was still focused on everything else so I didn't notice how many I had eaten until they were gone.

_Great_, I thought.

Suddenly, I heard the sound of a car in the distance, but it was a little bit louder; more aggressive. I looked back the way I came and saw a trace of headlights coming towards me. Without thinking any harder, I dove backwards into the bushes that lined the road. To see a strange girl sitting alone on the side of an abandoned street in the middle of the night might not look very natural.

The car passed just as I got into a good position but then it came to a screeching stop. You know, the kind that makes those long skid marks on the highways? It was so loud and high pitched that I actually had to cover my ears. I looked up and peered through the branches to see what had happened.

I made a few observations in those few seconds: one, it was actually a motorcycle that was being driven which explained the unusual aggressiveness of the engine. Two, a teenage boy was climbing off of the motorcycle and walking my way. And finally, three, he was walking to the dirt pile that I had been sitting on where I had _left my bag_.

Oh, shit.

The boy walked straight up to my bag and picked it up. At first, he just looked at it all around, probably looking for a name. When he couldn't find one, he slowly started to open the main pouch. On instinct, I jumped out.

The boy probably jumped back about four feet, dropping my back in the process. "Oh my, God," he said. "You scared the hell out of me." He had shaggy brown hair that had permanent hat-hair damage. He was tall and skinny but wearing baggy jeans and a leather jacket. All of his features we're very sharp and his head was totally out of proportion to the rest of his body. It was more of a square shape. He wasn't ugly, but he wasn't hot either.

"Don't touch my bag," I said in my pissed off tone. Whenever I would use it on Percy, he seemed to do whatever I'd say-which I'll admit, I enjoyed-so I figured it must work somehow.

"Okay, okay. Sorry," he said. "I didn't know anyone was here."

I shrugged. "Whatever."

He raised an eyebrow. "What are even doing out here alone anyway? Isn't it like three in the morning?"

"Two," I corrected him. "And I should be asking you the same question."

"My dad's auto shop is in the next town over," he said. "I live a while away so I've been driving all night. My motorcycle needs a tune-up so I thought I should get that done before she does on me."

"How much farther is it?"

"Not too far. 'Bout ten or eleven miles. Why?"

"No reason."

"Liar."

"Am not."

"Are too."

"Am not!"

He crossed his arms. "Okay then. What's _your _reason for being out in the middle of the night on the side of an abandoned road?"

"I-I...err..." I stuttered. _Come on, Annabeth. Just make something up_. "I took a wrong turn."

"Mhm. Sure you did."

"Yup."

He shook his head. "Well if you're not going to tell me the real reason, at least let me give you a ride into town. You can probably stay in my dad's shop and get some sleep, 'cause you look like you haven't gotten much of that recently."

I turned away, blushing. I probably looked terrible right now and being in that bush probably didn't help either. Then I mentally slapped myself for caring about what I look like in front of some random guy I just met. Or _ever_ for that matter. The only other time I remember caring about what I looked like was the day Percy brought me to his prom. I let the Aphrodite girls have a little fun by making me over. But, being demigods, that all went to waste because a monster jumped through the floor in the middle of a slow dance and we had to kill it which totally ruined my look. But after, Percy just kissed me and told me he liked me better that way anyway.

"So are you coming?" he said, interrupting my thoughts.

"Oh. I guess," I said. "Thanks."

"Yeah, no problem," he replied while climbing on the front. He patted the spot behind him and I hopped on. I didn't really feel comfortable wrapping my arms around a guy I just met, but I figured it was better than flying off the back of a motorcycle and hugging the pavement, so I just slipped my arms around him as he started up the bike.

"Just one more thing," I shouted over the engine. "What's your name?"

"Michael," he shouted back. "Call me Mikey. And yours?"

"Annabeth."

"Well it's nice to meet you, Annabeth. Now hold on." Then he kicked his kickstand up and we zoomed into the night.

* * *

><p>Darkness surrounds me. Pulling me in until I couldn't even see myself. I couldn't move. I couldn't breathe. Sudden kicking, no screaming, no one there to help me.<p>

Alone.

I bolted upright and took a deep breath. But then I started coughing in hysterics because I had just breathed in a deep breath of paint and gas fumes. I was lying on Mikey's dad's old couch that he kept in his motor shop for customers to sit on while their car is getting fixed. But right now the shop was empty besides Mikey who was on the other side of the room working on his motorcycle. The window above me was cracked open, letting in some light and fresh air-both of which I was thankful to have near me at the moment.

"Oh, you're up," Mikey said, making me turn my head towards him. He had grease coving his hands and had a bandana hanging out of his back pocket that was also covered in grease. But best of all, he was shirtless. And damn, he was sculpted.

"Err...yeah. Hey," I said sort of distracted.

Luckily he didn't seem to notice and just went back to his work. "Did you sleep better than you did on the highway?"

I made a face at him. "I didn't sleep on the highway. I slept in the woods back by the town."

"_Ooooh_," he said sarcastically. "I see."

"Oh, shut up." I giggled. "But overall, yes, I slept fine. Thanks for letting me stay here."

"Yeah, no problem. You can thank my dad. When I told him you were sleeping on the highway-"

"_Woods._"

"-he was totally cool with having you stay here. Oh, and by the way, you know you talk in your sleep?"

I blushed a deep red. "_What?_" I asked mortified. I started thinking about all of the things I could have been saying and, being a girl, I was assuming the worst. For all I know, I could have been venting out stuff about the gods or the war or anything else he wasn't supposed to know about!

He must have noticed my horrified face because he said, "Relax. You were just mumbling some guy's name."

Oh, shit. I blushed deeper. "Oh." There was a silence before I added, "Sorry you had to hear that..."

He smirked. "S'okay. I'm sure I'm _way_ hotter than he is anyway."

I giggled. "Ego much?"

"Nah, just cocky. There's a difference."

I laughed. "I'm not sure if I like cocky guys."

He held up his hands in defense. "That's cool with me. It sounds like this _Percy _guy is perfect for you anyway." I blushed again. He seemed to notice and just wanted to piss me off so he continued. "You kept talking about his _gorgeous _hair, his _gorgeous_ body, oh, and best of all, the _gorgeous_ way he sword fights."

"Oh...err, um, he fences..." I quickly explained.

He just looked at me confused. "Ok. Thanks, Captain Obvious. I figured that."

I stuck my tongue out at him then laughed again. He chuckled along with me for a few seconds before changing the subject. "So where are you off to anyway?"

I raised an eyebrow. "You found me on the side of a road. I'm surprised you didn't assume I was homeless."

"We'll I figured that you weren't creepy enough to be homeless so..."

I giggled. "Well that's offensive to homeless people everywhere."

He smiled. "Hey, as far as I know, none of them can hear me, so it's all good. Well... wait a second." He got this fake worried look on his face and started darting his eyes around the shop. I laughed and playfully shoved him.

He chuckled. "So seriously, where are you going?"

I paused. "I'm, err, not exactly sure. I have a list of instr-" I caught myself before I could say 'instructions'. "Um, directions." I walked back towards where my backpack was and grabbed out the list of clues, hoping I would get an easy one so I could tell him right away.

_3. You still have a home_

_Thank the gods._

"Actually," I said smiling inside. "I'm going to California."

"California?" he repeated. "What's in California?"

"Home."

He smirked. "Alright." He set his wrench down. "Road trip."

I laughed. Yeah, Mikey was funny.

But not s funny as Percy.

* * *

><p><strong>review ? i think yes . love you all ! &amp; happy Thanksgiving (: Im thankful for all my friends &amp; family &amp; OF COURSE all my loyal fans (: that's you guys(; now I'm off to Target &amp; MOA ! black friday shoppin time (: review ! <strong>


	10. Staring & Same Everything

**Ok. so heres my short explanation : we had mini finals right before winter break, then my computer got a major virus so i lost it for 5 days while it was being fixed, then they said they had to erase everything (EVERYTHING) off of my comp so i spent another day getting everything back on, then it was Christmas, then my internet was down for another three days . so over all , i just had a TERRIBLE streak of bad luck . :P**

**but anyways, thanks to everyone who reviewed last chapter ! still in love with you all(: enjoyy!**

* * *

><p>You know, it's pretty amazing how well you can get to know a person when they're driving you nineteen hours to your house without stopping. Well, except for the occasional fast food stop.<p>

Mikey and I got ourselves hooked on playing Truth or Dare, except when you're in a moving car, dares aren't the easiest things to do. So we mostly strayed away from those and just started asking each other questions back and forth.

I learned that he was originally born in Oklahoma, but him and his dad moved to Colorado when he was young so his dad could open a repair shop. His first kiss was with a girl named Marissa in eighth grade, but it was on a dare so he doesn't really count it. He also lettered in football, basketball, and track when he was in high school.

We had already gone thought all the basic questions, so we've been asking more personal ones.

"Okay, my turn," he said. "Have you ever been in love?"

"Yes," I answered automatically.

He looked at me out of the corner of his eye as he slowly braked at a stop light. "Well you answered that quickly." I just shrugged, trying to hide my blush. "Was it with that Percy guy?"

"Ah, ah," I said. "It's not your turn."

He chuckled. "Ok, fine. Go."

I thought about it for a little bit, hoping I could come up with a really good one. I did. "How were you willing to just drop everything in Colorado and drive me nineteen hours home?"

His smirk fell a bit. "How else were you going to get home? I doubt you had enough money for a plane ticket."

I shrugged. "It's just a question."

With his eyes fixed harshly on the road, he responded, "Well alright then."

Thirty minutes later we were pulling up in front of my dad's house. Looking out the window, I could vaguly see the mountain in the distance when I was forced to hold the sky seven years before. The sun was rising behind the mountain which made every detail that much more sculpted. I could practically hear Atlas cursing under the weight of the sky. I shivered.

Not only did that freak me out, but then I turned my head towards my dad's house. Everything looked pretty much the same from the last time I was here four years ago; except the shutters were painted blue. Because of the hour, all of the lights were off. The grass and hedges were all perfectly trimmed and the mailbox had _The Chase Residence _written on it in perfect cursive. The whole house looked like the perfect old time summer house-the one with the white fence and the smiling sun in the background.

Mikey cleared his throat. I looked towards him. "Not that I don't enjoy your company, Annabeth," he said. "But you should probably go. You only got a couple hours of sleep yesterday night and you stayed up all night today. You need sleep."

I nodded. "Well, err, thanks for the ride." I leaned over and pecked him on the cheek.

"Yeah, no problem," he replied. "Text me soon, okay, Blondie?"

"Yeah, okay." I wasn't about to tell him that I didn't have a phone, but I let him give me his number anyway. It seemed to be a routine anyways, right?

I grabbed my backpack, slung it over my shoulder, and made my way towards my dad's house without waving goodbye to Mikey.

I grabbed our spare key that we keep wedged in a crack on our steps and let myself in. The inside looked pretty much the same too, except that toys and little broken pieces didn't cover the floors anymore.

"Who's here?"

I looked up the stairs to see my dad in his robe and slippers. His hair was even more Mad-Scientist looking than usual and he was holding a baseball bat. I smirked at his appearance.

When he realized that it was me, he dropped the bat. "Annabeth?"

"Hi, dad," I said.

He walked down to the bottom of the stairs and gave me a hesitant hug. I half-heartedly hugged him back. "What are you doing here?"

"It's a long story" I mumbled. "You know, dad, I'm pretty tired. Can we talk about this in the morning?"

The sparkle in his eyes dimmed. "Oh, yes, of course. You know where your room is, Sweetie."

I nodded then made my way to my room, taking the stairs two at a time.

* * *

><p><em>"What's that?" Percy asked, pointing to the picture.<em>

_"The great dome of St. Peter's," I replied. "It's in Rome. It was designed by Michelangelo."_

_"Who's that?"_

_I raised an eyebrow at him but he looked genuinely confused. I sighed. "He's was a great Italian artist. One of the most well-known artists of all time."_

_I knew Percy was only pretending to show interest in my new architectural book that my dad sent me because he knows he gets, ahem, "rewarded" for actually taking the time to learn something, but it still made me smile that he was putting in _some_ effort._

_A strong wind blew towards us which caused some of the lake water to splash on me, and my book. I groaned._

_Percy bit his lip. "Here, let me try something." He closed his eyes and hovered his hand over my wet book. With a deep breath, he slowly raised his hand which pulled the water up and out. Then he opened his eyes and nodded, obviously pleased with himself._

_"I can see you're getting better at that," I noticed._

_"Yeah, I'm awesome." _

_I playfully shoved him and giggled. _

_Percy set the book aside and grabbed my hands. "So here's the thing," he said. "Your dad wants you to go home for the rest of this summer, doesn't he." It wasn't as much of a question as it was a statement._

_I sighed. "How'd you know?"_

_"I read the note that he sent you with this book." I narrowed my eyes at him. "Sorry, I got curious..." he added._

_I smirked, but it quickly dropped. "Look, I knew what you'd say. But camp just started last week, which means I _just_ saw them. And plus..." I squeezed his hands. "I want to spend the summer with you. This will be the first summer that we don't have to worry about being killed on some quest. And I don't want to leave you."_

_He grinned then leaned in and pecked me on the lips._

_I knew what he actually said next: "I don't want to leave you either." But suddenly, everything shifted. The wind picked up and clouds rolled in fast, blocking out the sun. Percy's usual goofy look hardened and he stared me right in the eye. "I'm leaving, Annabeth," he said in a heartless tone._

_My breath caught in my throat. "What?"_

_"I'm leaving," he repeated. "This camp, my home..." He paused. "You."_

_His image started fading. "Wait!" I screamed. "Why!"_

_"I'm leaving," he repeated, fading away._

_I started breathing heavier. I couldn't feel his hands in mine anymore. It started getting darker by the second. I found myself struggling, trying to figure out where I was, why I was there, who I even was. But I couldn't feel anything. I couldn't see anything. I couldn't breathe._

_I was alone._

My eyes opened. Somehow, I had gotten used to these nightmares. I sat up and rubbed my eyes. My room looked the same too—just how I left it four years ago. My walls were covered in blueprints and pictures of some of the greatest monuments in the world. My closet was mostly bare because all my good clothes were still back at camp. On my side table sat two framed pictures. One showed Grover, Percy, Thalia, and I with our arms around each other. It was the day after the war had ended and you can still see campers rejoicing in the background. I smiled.

The second one showed Percy sitting against the trunk of our tree and me against him. He was whispering something in my ear and I had my head thrown back, laughing. I couldn't remember exactly what he was telling me at that moment, but obviously I thought it was hilarious.

I picked that one up and examined it more closely. His arms were wrapped protectively around my waist and my arms rested on his, keeping them there. I was wearing my old Camp Half-Blood t-shirt and my curly hair was thrown up, but Percy still was looking at me like I was the most beautiful thing in the world.

And then he left without saying goodbye. I sighed.

"Annabeth?"

I looked up to see my step-mom standing in my doorway. She was already in her typical floral dress and apron, her hair in a bun. She was shyly smiling at me. "Your father told me you came home," she said.

"Yeah, well, I'm not staying long," I said, not really wanting to talk to her at the moment. My step-mom's smile drooped.

"Oh. Well, I made your favorite anyway: waffles with whipped cream, syrup, and strawberries. You did mention that it was your favorite, right?"

I nodded once, then turned my attention back towards the picture frame. I set it back down.

My step-mom shifted her weight. "Your father mentioned that you looked pretty worn down this morning, so feel free to sleep in as late as you want. Otherwise, come downstairs and eat with us. I would love to hear how camp was."

She gave me some privacy so I could take a much needed shower and change into some of my old clothes. Even if they were from when I was in high school, they still fit me and they were better than the two sets of clothes that I had been flip-flopping between this past week. Then I finger-combed my hair and skipped down the stairs—feeling better than I have in a while.

My dad, step-mom, and two brothers were already sitting at the table. A fifth chair had been pulled up and two waffles drenched in syrup with a mountain of whipped cream and cut up strawberries were already on the plate. As I came down, four pairs of eyes all fell on me. I immediately felt uncomfortable.

"What?" I asked.

"Nothing, nothing," My step-mother assured, shooting my half-brothers a glare as to say _Stop staring._

"We're just a little surprised that you're home, Anna," my dad said. "Not that it's a bad thing!" he quickly added.

_Geez, everyone is so uptight_, I thought.

I slowly made my way to the table and sat down between my dad and Matthew. Matthew and Bobby both had grown up a lot since the last time I saw them. They were sixteen now and definitely looked like it. They were both bulked up pretty well and Bobby even had his hair gelled into a fauxhawk. Lame.

I took my first bite and everyone else slowly started to eat again. I barely got through five bites before I couldn't take the staring anymore.

"Will everyone please stop staring at me!"

My brothers snickered and my step-mom shot them a look. My dad spoke up: "I'm sorry, Sweetie—"

"Stop calling me Sweetie."

Everyone got completly silent and my dad looked taken-back and a little hurt.

I sighed and rubbed my temples. "I'm sorry. I...I've just been a little on edge lately. Just...Dad can I talk to you, please?"

He nodded and followed me up to his office. I took one look back down at my step-mom to see her looking upset. I just kept walking.

"So, what's on your mind, Squirt?" he said as he closed the door behind us.

I grinned. "I guess 'Squirt' is better than 'Sweetie'."

He smiled. "Yeah, I guess it is."

I could hear my brothers fighting over something downstairs. "Look, Dad—I only came here for one reason." He sat on his desk and gestured for me to continue.

I started explaining my little adventure from these past few days. It was actually a lot easier than I thought it would be, considering me and my dad aren't exactly the best of friends. I left out any parts about guys though besides Percy. The whole time my dad had a stern look on his face, like he was analyzing the whole thing. We are _so _related.

"So basically, dad, I'm needing you to help me with this clue." I sighed. "I need you to think back to August four years ago. Most likely somewhere between the second and the fourth. Do you remember Percy ever coming here?"

My dad pursed his lips and lowered his eyes to the floor, deep in thought. "Four years ago...August...Percy Jackson..." he mumbled. It was like this for a little longer while he thought back.

"Yes," he finally said. "Yes, I do think I remember him coming by. I remember asking him why he wasn't at camp and he never really replied."

I sat up a bit straighter. "Do you remember if he said anything else?" I asked, eagerly.

He sighed then went back into his thinking pose.

I sighed. "Here, I'll go get you some brain food. You never got to finish breakfast." I stood up and walked back down stairs.

My brothers were already parked in front of the TV, beating each other up over a video game. I rolled my eyes and walked into the kitchen. My step-mom was washing the dishes so I stepped around her to get to the refrigerator.

"Annabeth, honey?" my step-mom said.

"Mhm?" I muttered.

She dried her hands on a dish towel. "Why did you come home?"

I was about to reply with something snappy like _Why? Do you not want me here? _or _It doesn't matter. I'm leaving soon anyways_; but I felt like she's just been trying hard to be a better mom than she was before.

"I needed to ask dad something."

She nodded. "Did the question have anything to do with Percy?"

I straightened my back and nearly hit my head on the refrigerator in the process. "Why do you ask?" I asked nervously.

She grinned. "You know, I have a much better memory than your ageing father." She laughed. "Here, I have something for you."

I had no idea what she was talking about, but I followed her anyway. She lead me to the broom closet under the stairs and grabbed a package out of it. She blew the dust off and handed it to me.

"I specifically remember Percy Jackson coming by that day," she said. "He said he wanted to leave something in your room for you so I let him up there. Then he let himself out without said a proper 'goodbye'."

_He seems to be making a habit of that,_ I thought.

"Anyways," she said. "months went by but you never came home. So when I was cleaning the dust out of your room, I decided to put the package away until you _did_ come home. But don't worry, I never opened it."

I smiled. "Wow, err, thanks. That was really nice—"

"Annabeth!" My dad came racing down the stairs in pure excitement. "Squirt, I remembered—" He seemed to noticed that my step-mom already gave me the package. I laughed. "Oh," he said.

My step-mom rolled her eyes. "Don't worry, Fredrick. I got it."

I smiled and thanked my step-mom again before racing up to my room.

* * *

><p><strong>good? bad? somewhere in between? have a story about something that happened over the holidays? click the button below (: I'd love to hear(: hope everyone's holidays were amazing ! &amp; happy 2012 everyone ! -kenna(:<strong>


	11. IMs & Intuition

**so sorry for the late update ! crazy crazy life i have at the moment so I wrote when i could ! **

**Happy Valentines day ! all the single ladies, now put you hands up ! represent.**

**enjoy !**

* * *

><p>The thing about Percy is that as dumb as he seems, he can be very complicated.<p>

Like this whole scavenger hunt thing that he's sent me on. I don't know why he couldn't have just told me where he went and/or why in that note he left me, but he didn't. Instead, I get to spend who knows how much longer of my life on a wild goose chase.

The only positive thing about it is that I feel like I'll find him. I can't explain it, but it's just that gut feeling. You know, like when game show players are picking between three doors. I mean, usually they're wrong, but that's not really the point.

Though I would be lying if I said I wasn't getting annoyed with this. To me, it's sounds like a bad sitcom. _A girl chasing after her lost love through a serious of clues he's left behind for her to find. _Give me a break, Percy.

All these thoughts were running through my mind as I ran up to my room and shut the door behind me—the box from Percy grasped firmly in my hands.

I jumped on my bed and immediately started tearing the wrapping paper off of it.

The box used to hold Adidas tennis shoes. It looked like just a typical one that Percy had sitting in his closet for years. It looked even older now that it had been sitting in my step-mom's closet for even _more_ years.

My fingers were shaking as I started lifting the lid, but I quickly became impatient and picked the lid up and threw it across the room.

Unlike the outside, the inside was perfectly immaculate. It looked like it could've just been wrapped yesterday.

A plethora of brightly colored tissue paper surrounded a picture frame. The frame itself was pretty simple: silver and square with not much of a boarder. But the actual picture sitting inside of it was what made me blink twice.

It was the same picture of me and Percy that was sitting on my nightstand. The only difference was that the one that I was holding in my hands had a heart drawn in faded black Sharpie around Percy's head. I had drawn that when I was still in deep love-sickness just before I had put it in the frame.

So that could only mean that _this_ one was mine. I raised an eyebrow.

As I was running my hands over the picture frame, I felt something brush my fingers that was stuck to the back. I flipped it over to find a sticky note with the same waterproof ink used to write the words and the familiar sloppy signature at the bottom that made my heart melt. The note said:

_Didn't realize I switched them, did you? Well at least I look good in a heart. Love, Seaweed Brain_

I read it over and over again—not because I was trying to figure out this piece of the puzzle, but because I could totally imagine him writing this. He was most likely annoyed with his dyslexic mind and frustrated with his own idea about leaving or whatever was making him leave. He probably used up about four sticky notes until he got one where he didn't have to cross anything out.

That's my Seaweed Brain.

I sighed.

All I wanted at this moment was to know that he was safe and happy. I would trade anything just to know that right now.

He had to be happy, right? I know Percy—and he would never give up without a fight. If he really did run away, he had to have had a good reason.

So far all I've gotten was a picture of an owl, something to do with a trap, and a stolen and switched picture of me and him. Most likely specifically him due to the note. And I'm really not too excited to go to the next clue, and the next clue, and the next. What was the point of this anyway? None of this was getting me anywhere except three-thousand miles away from my rightful home!

I tossed the picture frame aside. It decided that it wanted to be stupid by bouncing off the wall, off my pillow and tumble onto the floor. There was a soft _crack_ and the frame broke in two. I sighed then pushed the box onto the floor as well.

Downstairs, the sound of our doorbell and the barking of a dog (we have a dog?) carried up the stairs. There was a faint 'I'll get it' from my step-mom followed by her opening our squeaky door. I rolled over on my bed and burred my head in my pillow, hoping to block out all the sound in the world just so I could think for a moment or two.

I heard at least two people climbing up the stairs and walking down the hallway, the whole time pretty much silent until there was a quiet knock on my door.

"Err...Annabeth?" my step-mom said. "You have a guest."

I groaned quietly to myself.

"I'll be downstairs," my step-mom said. Then I heard her high heels quickly clack away. Why she was wearing high heels in the house, I'll never know.

"There's no need to groan, Annie." My breath caught in my throat. I knew that voice.

I sat up quickly. "Umm, hello, Aphrodite."

The goddess smiled. "While I appreciate your formalness, Annabeth, there's no need." She smoothed out her already-wrinkle-free designer shirt. "I'm just here on a casual occasion." She picked up the package and broken frame off of my floor and moved it to the side. Then she sat down next to me.

I raised an eyebrow. "So you're here...just because?"

She shrugged her perfect shoulders and smiled her perfect smile.

I wasn't convinced. "Really?"

She laughed and raised her hands in defense. "Okay, you got me. I'm here on business."

"Business," I repeated.

"Mhm." She caught herself in the reflection of my mirror and started fixing her hair. I tried focusing on exactly what she looked like, but for some reason, it starting giving me a headache. Like she kept looking like different people every second.

"What kind of business?" I asked.

"Honestly, child. Are you this naïve?" She smirked, finally seeming to give up primping and turning back towards me.

I stayed silent.

"You and Percy!" she squealed. "I'm here about your little scavenger hunt!"

"Wait," I said. "You know about that?"

"Darling, please," she said. "I'm the goddess of all love and anything even remotely related. I knew when Percy was first even _thinking_ about it."

My heart dropped into my stomach. "And you didn't tell me until now?" I asked, trying not to sound as angry as I was starting to feel.

She waved me off. "There's no need to get upset, dear. It's a bit more complicated than that."

"_How?"_ I nearly shouted. "So I'm guessing that _you_ know the reason he left too?" I shot up and kicked the frame that was still on the floor farther away from me.

She shrugged and started examining her nails. "Patience is a virtue, Annie."

I growled. Why was is that I seemed to be the only one who didn't know the reason why my boyfriend left? _My_ boyfriend. Not theirs—mine.

"Oh, sweetie," Aphrodite said. "Don't worry. You see, that's why I'm here—to help!"

I turned to her. "To help?"

She nodded excitedly. "I took a risk doing this but I couldn't watch you suffer anymore. I could start to foresee that if you didn't get help soon, you'd never find him. So I just packed up some—"

"You mean he's alive?" I interrupted.

The goddess looked confused by this question. "Well of course, child. What made you think that he wasn't?"

I actually never had the feeling that he was dead, but I knew lots of other people back at camp did—including Chiron. But just hearing the words from a goddess proving that my hunch was right seemed to take a million pounds of stress off my back. My Seaweed Brain was alive. He was okay. I grinned stupidly.

She stared into my eyes which seemed to just take my answer right out of my mouth. "No, I never thought he was dead."

Aphrodite beamed. "Exactly! Because you two are still connected even after being apart for this long! Gods, I wish I could see a love like yours around more often. These days, people are vowing _'till death do us part_ and then they go and let one little thing ruin that." She made a face of disgust.

I couldn't help but agree with her on that part. "I don't _love_ him," I stuttered. "I only told him that once and it's not like he ever said it back."

"_Psh_! That's bad lying even to yourself, child! Of _course_ you love him and you always have! Even while you were dating that mean boy. And he loves you too! You never even went a day without thinking about what would happen if you ever found him, did you?"

I gritted my teeth. "Whatever." She seemed to notice my embarrassment and smiled, placing a hand over her heart.

"Gods, you two are just so cute! Even after all this time! You know, usually I like it better when the boy chases after the girl but power to the pretty girl for going after the boy!"

I turned away, trying to drain the blush that was crawling to my cheeks while Aphrodite giggled.

"So you said you came to help me," I said, trying to change the topic. "What are you going to help me with?"

"Well, not much," she said. "I've already bent the rules quite a bit this past week. But then again, what's life without a little risk?" She smiled, as if incredibly proud of herself.

"What do you mean you've _bent the rules_?" I asked firmly. "What rules!"

"Annie, please. You'll find out when the time is right and from the right person." Aphrodite started picking up the broken frame on my floor. "But for now, you should just be thankful for what I've helped you with already." She had a smug expression on her face as she attempted to fix the frame. But she realized after a quick game of 'puzzle pieces' that there was no use.

I was getting frustrated with her comments that were just edging me on to ask her what the hell she was talking about. I knew she was a goddess and all, but she was really good at making me mad. "You've already helped me?"

She nodded excitedly. "Honestly, Annabeth, think about it: do things usually work out this easily?"

I thought about it. "Good point." She smirked. "So, umm, Aphrodite?"

"Yes, dear?"

"What exactly did you help with?" I asked. "And why exactly are you meddling in my love life _again?"_

"Well, as for what I helped you with, I ordered Apollo to go and talk to you even thought the dumb boy didn't have a clue what was going on." She rolled her eyes. "I also played with your thinking process a bit so you could figure out what Percy was telling you—"

"You can do that?"

"Mhm. But we gods usually try to resist just because it's rude—like you interrupting me." I mumbled an embarrassed apology but she waved me off, saying that it's no big deal and that she _is_ here for friendly reasons and therefore, we should act like friends.

"And I also messed with the thinking of all of those boys so that they'd be in the right place at the right time to get you where you needed to go! You're _welcome_ for making them cute!"

I groaned quietly. Of _course_ Aphrodite was the reason all of those guys were interested in me—she was playing with their minds so I could get to Percy. But, it being Aphrodite, my guess is that she didn't even consider that any girl would've been able to help me too. She probably thought that with boys, 'It'd be more fun!'

"Well thank you, I guess," I said. "But why couldn't you have just gotten me to Percy right away? Was it because of these _rules_?" I couldn't help hiding the annoyance in my voice. But hey, I'm an impatient person. Especially when it comes to nosey goddesses and my long-lost-maybe-still boyfriend.

This time, even Aphrodite started looking annoyed. She sighed. "Yes. But Annabeth, I promise you that when you find him, this will all make sense." She put a hand to her chest. "_Ugh,_ listen to me. I haven't talked like this since the Trojan War." She laughed at herself.

I weighted my options. Then I realized that I really don't have many options.

"Okay, fine," I said after a moment of silence. "But are you at least able to bend the rules enough to help me with this clue? Or maybe make my brain do that thing where I could only focus on one thing again?"

She smiled. "Oh, Annie. You're a smart girl. You haven't needed any guidance before, so why should you need it now?"

I was kind of taken aback. "What?"

Aphrodite turned back towards the door. "I have to go now, but it was nice seeing you, dear! And we really miss having you up on Olympus, so visit more often, okay?" She turned back once more with a glimmer in her eyes. Then she winked, turned back around, and pranced gracefully down the steps.

I was confused. And I'm not confused about many things.

I sighed and ran my fingers through my hair.

"Annabeth?"

I spun around so fast that I nearly tripped over my own feet. "Thalia?"

Thalia's face was surrounded by a rippling rainbow. She was smiling. "Hey! I hadn't heard from you in a while so I figured I should IM you."

"Well perfect timing," I said. I caught her up on my trip so far: all the brain-tricked guys who "just so happened" to be in the right place at the right time to help me, my sort-of meeting with Apollo, and finally, my actual meeting with Aphrodite.

"So then she just said, 'You're a smart girl. You haven't needed any guidance before, so why should you need it now?' and then left," I concluded.

Thalia pursed her lips. "Well," she said. "this kind of sounds like something that only you can figure out."

I sighed. "That's my problem. And I'm getting really annoyed by traveling, not knowing where I'm going! I just..." I sighed. "I just want to know where he is."

"What have you got so far? For clues, I mean."

I heard a loud _thump_ from downstairs and my mom yelling at my bothers to 'clean it up.' "Something to do with Athena, a trap, and think this last one has to do with him. Like specifically."

She nodded. "Okay, well like Aphrodite said, you're a smart girl. Just think about it for a minute."

I nodded. I started to analyze each clue like I would when I would spend hours in my study back at camp. It's pretty easy; all you do is think about everything in a way more complicated way than it's intended to be thought of. That's the way Percy was anyway.

_Wait a second. _

That's the way Percy was. He over thought everything.

"Thalia," I said. She popped her head up. I guess I was thinking longer than I thought. "Percy is a seaweed brain, right?"

"Yup."

I smiled. "Then I think I know where he is."

* * *

><p><strong>volia ! review please ? happy valentines day ! i love you all ! i would put a heart but fanfic doesnt allow less than signs :P -kenna(:<strong>


	12. Santa & Sea World

**sorry for the lateness ! i know . im terrible .**

**but thanks for sticking with me anyways ! & thanks for all the amazing reviews last chapter ! i love you all . but you know that .**

**important chap right here . hope you enjoy (:**

* * *

><p>"Annabeth, are you sure about this?"<p>

I stomped down the stairs. "Hundred percent."

I heard Thalia sigh."No, I mean about the talking-to-me-on-the-phone part."

"Oh, yeah, that too," I said. "Aphrodite was most likely the reason no monsters have attacked me while I was running around America as well so I think we'll be fine." I slung my backpack on my shoulder. "That and I'm out of golden drachmas."

"Well fine but if I get eaten by a gorgon tonight, I'm blaming you."

"That sounds fair."

Thalia laughed. "So do you really think you know where Seaweed Brain is?"

I sighed. "I think so." Just the idea that I could be right made me jittery and anxious. But the thought of success also brought the thought of failure—and that thought made me light-headed.

"So, where?"

I bit my lip. "Sea World. I think he might work there."

I heard her snort. "Weren't you already there?"

"Yeah, but that was years ago. He might not have been there that day or maybe he hadn't even gotten the job yet or something."

"So what makes you think he's there now?"

I adjusted the phone on my shoulder so I could grab some more food to pack and look over a note from my dad saying that the rest of the family went out to the store and to IM them if I needed anything. I guessed that he didn't know that I just used my last golden drachma on Thalia. "Well like we said: he over thinks everything. The clues that he left me were supposed to be literal words—not just a general idea. So what I got from the first three was 'Athena trapped me.'"

"Athena trapped him!" Thalia asked, obviously a little shocked.

"Not literally!" I said. "I don't know the whole story but she must have threatened him in some way that would make him feel like he was being forced to go back to his dad's territory. Plus, he loves Sea World."

Thalia laughed. "That seaweed brain." I giggled and agreed. "Well what if he's not there? What if he, like, went to the bottom of the ocean or something? Or what if he's at the Sea World in Florida instead of California?"

I bit my lip. "Technically I don't know. But I don't have time to go through this list of directions to figure out a paragraph of words or whatever his plan was. When I find him, he'll tell me the rest of the story."

Thalia sighed. "I've always admired your confidence, Annabeth. You're always so sure of your thought process."

I smiled. "Well, you know me: I always have a plan."

Thalia laughed. "Yeah, sure you do."

* * *

><p>I stole my dad's car.<p>

Am I proud of this? No. Did I really have any other option? Well I didn't have much money left, so no.

All though, I _did_ have just enough to get me eight hours down to San Diego before the sun set. At this point, I was surprised that I hadn't gotten car sick from the multiple road trips yet or gone crazy from the almost total silence besides the radio. But all I could think about was Percy's sea-green eyes, so that probably played a part in it.

The park was well closed when I finally stepped out of the car. The only people who were anywhere around the park were the night employees cleaning up all the wrappers that lazy parents dropped and mopping up the water from the _Shamu Show_ that splashed all the kids who were hoping to get wet.

I bit my lip and debated if it was even worth asking someone behind the gates if Percy was there. Thalia did have a good point—I didn't have much fact that Percy was here. I was running on pure instinct. And if he wasn't here, what was I supposed to do? Keep going through the clues and travel around until I find him? I don't think so.

I grabbed my backpack out of the passenger's seat. Then again, I thought, when have my instincts ever failed me before?

A miserable looking janitor was sweeping the walkway just behind the main gates. He was slowly brushing dirt back and forth, not really looking like he was trying to put any effort into it. As I got closer, I was able to make out his name on his badge: Steve.

"Uh, excuse me?" I called, approaching the gate.

Steve looked up with curiosity and even a little excitement. From the way he was looking before, this was probably the most exciting thing that had happened to him all day. He was short and plump with rosy cheeks that kind of reminded me of Santa Clause. He had a pure white-haired moustache and nearly a full head of also-white hair, except for a slowly growing bald spot on the top of his head. That didn't help him at all with looking less like Saint Nick. "Can I help you?" he asked in a high-for-a-man voice.

"Maybe." I took a breath. "Do you, by any chance, know a Percy Jackson?"

Steve brushed some dust off his hands. "Jackson? Yeah, he's one of our backstage trainers. Nice kid."

My heart sped up about ten times faster. "Is he still here?"

"I think so. Do you need to see him?"

I swallowed. "Yes."

He nodded. "Alright. Technically, I'm not supposed to let you in, but I guess I can make an acceptation."

"Wow," I said. "Thank you."

He smiled and used one of his many keys to open the gate. I stepped inside and Steve lead the way.

"So how do you know Jackson?" he asked.

"Old friend, I guess," I replied.

"You guess?" I nodded. "Nothing else?"

I raised my eyebrow at the old man talking to me. "Uhh, sort of."

He chuckled. "I won't bite, you know. Jackson tells me about you all the time."

I stumbled over my own feet. "He tells you about _me?"_

"Yes. I've seen a couple pictures of you. What is your name again?"

I tried not to blush. _Percy would talk about me,_ I thought. "Annabeth."

He nodded. "That's the one."

He didn't ask me anything else or push the subject any further, which I actually appreciate. For all I had known, Steve might've known everything already and just wanted to hear what I had to say. He seemed like a nice guy—maybe a little snoopy, but nice.

We walked for about five minutes past a couple rides, a play park for little kids, and several gift shops and restaurants. As we passed each one, Steve would tell me some of the history of each place. I tried to listen, but I couldn't help but have a few other things on my mind. _Percy. _We reached a huge stadium-like building where Steve then stopped.

"The Sea Lion and Otter Stadium," Steve said, obvious to my curiosity. "Jackson works inside, helping to train the animals in their early states along with our stars, Clyde and Seamore."

I nodded while still admiring the building. It had a style that was both Greek and Roman that somehow looked natural together. Like in the way how the whole building looked like a Roman colosseum but was being supported by Greek columns. Then there were the small details like flying buttresses, the tan-color which helped the building stand out and tie in at the same time, and even a couple old fashioned gargoyles when I looked around closely.

I took a second to think about what I was doing with my life.

Steve lead me inside the dark stadium while using a flashlight to see. He took me down a long hallways marked "Employees Only" which had lots of doors on either side. He passed all of those doors and, instead, took the last one which opened up to two staircases: one leading up and the other leading down.

"Percy's office is down here," he said as he stepped down each stair. For every step, he moved his feet one at a time, taking his time to make sure he was balanced on the one before and then moving on to the next.

At the bottom of the stairs, another long, dark hallway was stretched out in front of me—more doors on either side. The only difference from this hallway to the one upstairs was this one was carpeted.

"Jackson's office is the second door on the left, Miss...err..."

"Chase."

"Of course—Miss Chase."

I nodded and adjusted my backpack, suddenly shaky. "Thanks, Steve. This means a lot."

Steve blinked, as if trying to remember if he had introduced himself. I giggled. "Your name tag."

He looked down and cracked a smile himself. "You know, I've worked here so long, I always forget I'm wearing this old thing."

I felt it kind of rude, but I was compelled to say: "How long have you been working here?"

"Too long," he said with a head shake. "But hopefully one day, one of these young, selfish workers will slip up and end up as miserable as me."

"Oh," I said, embarrassed. "I'm sorry."

He chuckled and coughed probably in an unhealthy way. "No, it's not your fault." Then he turned around and slowly and carefully stepped back up the stairs.

I watched him until he was all the way back up to whisper to myself, "It's not my fault."

Somehow, I don't think he was talking about his misery.

I was suddenly aware of what I was actually doing and I took in a sharp breath.

Percy was twenty steps away from me. After four years, I would get to see him again. I would get answers to why he left. He could explain why the hell he left me a scavenger hunt to find him. But most of all, I could be with him again.

I could be with my Seaweed Brain.

Confidence rose in me and I marched my way up to the door that Steve told me was Percy's. With a shaky fist, I knock knock knocked.

I waited. No answer.

I knocked again. Silence

I raised an eyebrow and took a step back. Did Steve lie? I thought to myself. He may have just been _that_ bored. He also claimed that he had heard a lot about me but then couldn't remember my name.

I knocked one more time with another no-answer responce. Well, maybe Steve just gave me the wrong room, I thought. If he had forgotten my name then it wouldn't be surprising if he had forgotten where Percy's office was.

I ignored the side of me that was whispering: _He's not here._ And I tried to ignore the tears that came along with it. But then again, those are a little harder to ignore.

I looked around in this dark hallway. The only sound I could hear was my own breathing. The only light was a dim light blub at the top at the staircase that Steve left on for me. It was flickering. No one else was here. Not Percy, not any of the boys who helped me get here, not even the Santa look-a-like.

I was alone.

I sprinted up the steps, taking them three at a time. My breathing was five times as heavy as it was when I still thought I had the chance of seeing my Seaweed Brain just two minutes ago. Tears were stinging my eyes but I kept them in. Even if nobody was around to see me cry, I had done enough of that in the last four years. Now was the time to be strong.

I reached for the door handle just in time to hear footsteps coming down the other set of steps. _Oh gods,_ I thought. _Please don't let me spill tears now_.

But I didn't have to worry about that person seeing me because I was the one who turned around after I heard a quick _clunk_ and the sound of someone muttering, "Ow..."

I knew that voice, I thought as I turned around. I knew that mop of messy, dark hair. I knew that awkward clumsiness that I found adorable.

He did a double take after looking up at me as well. "Annabeth?"

It was Percy.

* * *

><p><strong>He's backkkkk (: review ? please ? &amp; i already have most of the next chapter written so I should get it up sooner ! reviews will help that (: I love you all ! -kenna(:<strong>


	13. Filing Cabinets & Four Years Later

**I hope you all realize how important school is because thats whats been backing up my ability to update . **

**anyways , thanks for all the amazing reviews ! & now , the moment you've all been waiting for . enjoy (:**

* * *

><p>Recap...<p>

_I reached for the door handle just in time to hear footsteps coming down the other set of steps. _Oh gods,_ I thought. _Please don't let me spill tears now.

_But I didn't have to worry about that person seeing me because I was the one who turned around after I heard a quick __clunk__ and the sound of someone muttering, "Ow..."_

_I knew that voice, I thought as I turned around. I knew that mop of messy, dark hair. I knew that awkward clumsiness that I found adorable._

_He did a double take after looking up at me as well. "Annabeth?"_

_It was Percy._

* * *

><p>"Umm, Katie says hi."<p>

Yes, I actually said that.

Percy cocked his head. I couldn't blame him—his maybe-sort-of girlfriend whom he hasn't seen for four years tracks him down and the first thing she says is that another girl says hi? I would be a little confused too.

"Err...huh?" he muttered just like he used to.

"Um, Katie Gardner?" I said nervously. "Remember her? I ran into her in Colorado and she told me to say hi. She also told me that her and Travis Stoll got engaged. Remember him? They're the most unlikely couple of all time but I think they're good together. She showed me her engagement ring too. The diamond was tiny but Katie said that Travis was saving up for a man-cave or something stupid like that. I mean, I don't expect anything less than that from Travis but what are you going to do with an ignorant half-crazed newly engaged demigod?"

Percy's mouth was still set in a small "O" but I just kept rambling. I mean, what was I supposed to say? That's kind of the point, I guess—I didn't know _what_ to say. Obviously Percy didn't either because he was still speechless while I kept saying anything that came to my head. Who knew that in this situation, I would look like the dumb one?

"Err...Annabeth?" Percy interrupted just as I started into some other topic on Chiron's new saddle. I stopped mid-sentence. "You want to see my office?"

I desperately needed some ChapStick. "Umm, sure."

Percy gave me a single nod then turned down the staircase I had just ran up. The twenty seconds that it took to get from where we were to the door of his office were totally silent except the sound of our footsteps.

He opened the door and all I can say is Percy hadn't changed a bit.

The room was a little bit bigger than a broom closet. And as if it wasn't all ready cramped enough with a desk, two chairs and two filing cabinets, it was totally covered in papers and old food wrappers. There weren't any windows so there was just an exposed light bulb hanging from the ceiling to see with. The wall behind his desk had a huge chart on it with pictures of lots of different seals and whales and only about ten words. I don't blame him—even just those few words were hard for me to read as well. As for the other walls, they were covered with old pictures—all of Camp Half-Blood.

I saw the picture that Percy, Grover and I took after we completed our first quest. Another showed Percy trying to take a picture with Thalia but she was just shooting daggers at him. A third showed a picture of Percy and I holding hands after the very same game of Capture the Flag where I had lost my hat. I bit my lip.

But even that one didn't make me stop and stare as much as the one right below it did. It was about the size of half of a sheet of paper and was simply thumb-tacked to the wall. In it, my head was thrown back while the cutest and sweetest black-haired boy was whispering in my ear. He had his arms around me like he never wanted to let go and I never wanted him to.

But then he did. And I still don't know why.

That's when it hit me that today would be the day that I can find out. I'm standing four feet away from the boy who stole my heart and then ran away with it without saying why. I'm in the same room with the boy who wanted me to chase after him but I didn't until now. I'm looking at the boy who's seaweed filled mind came up with a list of directions to where he was and—I think—why.

"Umm..." he mumbled to get my attention. "Sorry it's such a mess in here."

"That's okay," I said while half-smiling. "I'm used to it."

Percy smirked. "What does _that_ mean?"

"Remember cabin inspection? And remember how you never won?"

Just like the twelve year-old Percy that I met nine year ago, he stuck his tongue out at me. We laughed together.

I caught his emerald-green eyes that have also not changed a bit. I had only seen the look in his eyes that he had now once; they were confused, sad and happy at the same time. The last time he looked like that was right after he told me that he loved me for the first time four years ago, but I was only interested in knowing what was wrong with him.

Percy gestured to the plastic chair across from his desk. "Please—sit down."

I did as he told and made myself comfortable, still eyeing the pictures of Percy and I.

There was a short silence as either of us tried to think of something to say. Just as I tried to start talking, so did he.

He blinked. "You go first."

"I just wanted to say..." I paused. "Happy belated birthday. The big Two-One, right?"

He smiled. "Thanks. I'm glad you remembered. And yeah, though I haven't done anything for it yet."

I widened my eyes a bit. "Really?" He nodded. "Isn't that, like, mandatory? To go to a bar on your twenty-first birthday?"

Percy laughed. "Yeah, I guess."

A wave of guilt washed over me as I realized what I was doing the morning of his birthday—I was waking up in another man's arms. I shrunk down in my seat.

Percy raised an eyebrow. "What's wrong?"

"Oh, nothing," I said. "It's, umm... It's just good to see you, Percy."

He smiled. "It's good to see you too, Annabeth. Now what I was going to ask was how your trip was."

I couldn't help but throw my head back and laugh. "Instead of asking how I got here or even why I'm here, you ask how my trip was?"

He bit his lip with a shy smile. "I was going to wait until things got less awkward for those."

"Okay, fair enough," I said. "My trip was fine, thanks for asking."

He nodded. "When did you get here?"

"About twenty minutes ago."

"I see," he said. "So _now_ how did you get here?"

I smirked. "Hitch-hiked."

Percy didn't looked fooled. "You did not."

I giggled. "Okay, that's a partial lie. I came by train, bus, car and a couple favors."

"Still no planes?" he asked.

"Still no planes." I smiled. "Gods, you haven't changed a bit, Seaweed Brain."

He raised his eyebrows. "Man, it's been a while since I've heard that one."

"Four years."

Percy's face fell faster than lead. "Yeah, four years."

I bit my lip. _It's now or never, Annabeth._ "So, um, Percy?"

"Yeah?"

"We need to talk."

Percy dropped his eyes to the floor and pretended to be cleaning up some loose papers. "'Bout what?"

"About this." With all the confidence and strength that I had left in my body, I grabbed the note out of my bag and slid it across his desk toward him.

Without even looking up, Percy stopped moving and mumbled something under his breath.

"What was that?" I asked.

He coughed. "I said, 'You shouldn't be here, Anna.'"

I was taken aback. "Wait, what?" I leaned forward. "Why would you say that? Isn't that what you wanted me to do? That's why you left that note under our tree?"

"I realized it was a stupid idea the minute I got here." He stood up and started keeping busy with the rest of the papers in his office. "You, of all people, should understand if you actually went through the breadcrumbs."

"Breadcrumbs?"

"Yeah, you know, like in _Hansel and Gretel_. They leave a trail of breadcrumbs."

I shrugged. "Sure. But to answer you, I got through three before I fit the pieces together."

Percy smirked sadly, still refusing to meet my eyes. "You haven't changed either, Anna."

I shrugged. "You wouldn't know—you've been gone."

This time he met my eyes with daggers. "Oh, put a sock in it, Annabeth! You don't even know the half of it!"

"Fine!" I shouted standing up. I noticed that I was clearly no longer his height. In fact, he was a good five or six inches taller than me. I couldn't help but think that was kind of hot. "Then how about you tell me the half that I don't know. Perseus Jackson, why did you leave?"

He started to say something back but changed his mind. Instead, he leaned against the side of his desk and crossed his arms. "What did you get from the clues?" he asked in a much more civil tone.

"I think it was 'Athena trapped me?'"

He nodded. "You're right, as usual." I smirked. "Or at least, she gave me the ultimate ultimatum: either I had to leave Camp Half-Blood and go live on my dad's grounds and let you pursue you life as an architect and let your mind rule over your heart and blah blah blah..." He paused and took a deep breath. "Or she was going to move you to Olympus. Permanently."

I nearly tripped over Percy's dumb, plastic chair. "Whoa. _What_?"

Percy just nodded with sad eyes. "And Annabeth, I couldn't let her do that. You would have been taken away from all your friends, your family, your work at camp. I wasn't about to let Athena do that to you. So I gave in to her ultimatum and left."

I was still trying to swallow what Percy had just thrown at me. My mother—my own godly flesh and blood—threatened to take away my life here on Earth if Percy didn't leave me so I would focus on what she thought was more important. The other part that surprised me was that Percy did it. And let me tell you something: you've got to be dealing with some pretty hard-ass stuff before Percy Jackson will just give in.

"But why didn't you say anything?" I asked. "You could've talked to Chiron or your dad or um, I don't know, ME!"

"Athena mentioned that. She said that if I told anyone about this, she would take you up right then and there. She said she thought that this would be the easiest way to, quote, 'get things organized' in the quickest and easiest way possible." Then Percy turned to me. "And Annabeth, she might still do it. I-I can't let that happen."

I crossed my arms. "Screw my mom." Percy's eyes grew to the size of plates and he started looking around as if a thunderbolt might strike down. "When I'm done with her, she's going to wish she had never sprouted from Zeus' head."

"I don't care what you do, Annabeth," he said. "I still think..."

"What?" I said, starting to choke up a bit. "What are you saying?"

"I'm saying," he said, rubbing the back of his neck. "I don't think you should have come."

The room was dead silent. "What, I'm not good enough anymore?" I said quietly. "Found somebody else?"

"What?" he said. "No! Of course not! I was thinking that _I _wasn't good enough!"

He ran his fingers through his hair and started pacing. "I mean, _damn_ Annabeth! I leave you a note _four_ years ago and you travel across the country anyway? How the hell can I have someone that great! I just..." He took a deep breath and dropped his head. "I just can't."

We were quiet for what seemed like forever. A tear ran down my cheek but I wiped it off before Percy noticed. Who the hell does he think he is, saying that I shouldn't have come? Isn't that what he wanted? I just couldn't even believe it. I started doubting my choice, telling myself that I should've just stayed with Eli before he turned into a douche bag. Or I could even just reach into my backpack and give one of the many guys who I met on my journey a call. At least they seemed to care about me. But then again, a little part of me was over-processing what he said. _Percy still wants you_.

I clenched my fists, suddenly extremely angry. "And did you even think about _why_ I did what I did?" I said. "It's because I want to be with you!"

Percy tried to interrupt but I kept going, ignoring him.

"And you _are _good enough Percy. I could've had anyone I wanted! I could've had the Almost-Too-Perfect-Boyfriend Eli or the Country-Charmer Charlie—"

"Anna..."

"—or My-Architect-Soul-Mate Jason or the Hopeless-Romantic Andrew or the Cute-Comedian Mikey! But guess what? I CHOSE YOU!"

Neither of us had anything else to say. And so, just like I always do when everything has been said, I picked up my backpack and let myself out, shedding hundreds of tears for Percy Jackson.

* * *

><p><strong>Theres quite a bit in this chapter that you could be thinking about ... so how about you share your thoughts with me (: -kenna(:<strong>


	14. Camp Half Blood & Chasing Percy

**the big finale.**

**let's go.**

****thanks for all the reviews (: i love you all ****

* * *

><p>I sighed. "Thalia, can you come over here and help me?"<p>

She nodded and strutted over. I smirked. At the same time, Thalia and I jumped on top of my overflowing suitcase and while it had no chance, I zipped it up.

"Ugh," Thalia said. "Who would've known that of all people, it would be you to bring too much crap to camp?" I giggled and playfully shoved her.

Today was August thirtieth—eight days since I was across the country at Sea World and eight days since I was told by the man I love that he didn't want me anymore. Or, at least that's what he implied.

Now I'm back at Camp Half-Blood. I haven't had any contact with that seaweed brain since then. He didn't run after me when I left the room, he didn't leave me something on my bed that was from our past or something, he didn't even try to call. It's like he just let me leave. Obviously that just proves that he wasn't lying when he said that he didn't want me there.

"Hey," Thalia said, noticing my gaze. "Forget about him. If he couldn't see what you've done for him, then he doesn't deserve you."

I half-heartedly nodded. "But the thing is, Percy said that he wanted to be with me—he just couldn't be with me because I was too good for him. Like he was too afraid to commit again because he thought that he would mess it up." I clinched my fists. "What a jackass."

Thalia snorted and agreed.

The dinner bell sounded. My half-brothers and sisters dropped all of their textbooks and pencils and started filing out of the cabin. Thalia turned and looked at me. "You hungry?"

"Not even a little bit."

She shrugged. "Well, I'll be there if you change your mind."

I turned my attention back towards my belongings as I heard the cabin door open and close again. Tomorrow was the last day of camp and while usually I would stay for the rest of the year as a counselor, I decided as soon as I got back from my little adventure that I should go back to my dad's house and start applying for colleges. That's what my mom's dream was for me my whole life—to focus on gaining all the knowledge in the world and let the mind rule over the heart. Well, considering my heart is pretty much shattered, I didn't really have much of a choice.

I wasn't really mad at my mom. I mean, I was _furious_ but I wasn't mad. I'll never forgive her for as long as I live for what she did to me and especially what she did to Percy, but now none of that matters anymore. And because none of that matters, making the choice to follow her lead was a lot easier and actually started to make some sense.

When I got back, Chiron helped me with this decision as well. He surprisingly wasn't angry or even surprised when I told him that I was traveling the country once more and that's where I had been for the week before. One of the best part of our little chat though was when he told me that Eli was no longer allowed in the boundaries of Camp Half-Blood. "Ha, sucks to suck, you little fucker," I whispered under my breath after Chiron gave me that news.

The part that Chiron _was_ surprised about, however, was when I told him that I actually succeeded in finding Percy. "He's alive?" Chiron asked. It was actually very sweet, the relief that I detected in his voice. From the moment that Percy stumbled into camp, Chiron had also thought of Percy like a son.

The whole camp was pretty much in shock once they heard the news as well—at least the people who knew Percy personally were. The ones who didn't just pretended to be surprised and acted like they were relieved when really, I doubted that they cared at all. Over all though, I didn't want the news to spread. I was sick of bing the talk of the camp or anything related to it. But like usual, a son of Hermes was listening in on one of mine and Thalia's conversations and well, everyone knew by lunch.

So now that this summer was over and so was my relationship with Percy, I just really wanted to get out of Camp Half-Blood. It was nothing personal about the place—I loved it there! It's just that I thought that it might be time to just let it all go and see what was in the rest of the world; Maybe even take my mom's terrible ultimatum as an offer and go up to Olympus for a little while.

I went to my closet in my cabin and grabbed my smaller-sized suitcase as I started weighing my options again. Everytime that I did though, my head started hurting. I threw the suitcase open and, just as frantically as before, started filling it with my extra stuff.

_Knock knock knock._

"Yeah?" I called.

"Wow," he said. My heart caught in my throat. "I haven't been in here in a while. You did a nice job with the additions, Annabeth."

I dropped my eyes to my suitcase. "What do you want, Percy?"

I could hear the smirk in his voice. "What, so you're not even going to ask how I got here? Or how about how my trip was?"

"Hardy har har. What are you doing here?"

All the playfulness dropped from his face. He walked up to me and asked me to turn around to look at him. I did what he asked.

"Annabeth, err...words...words cannot describe how s-sorry I am for what I said." He paused. "But you have to understand that I said it because...because that's what I felt."

I bit my lip. Looking into his eyes, I could tell that this was really hard for him. Percy was never one for just saying how he felt or why he felt it. His method was more let-it-all-bottle-up-then-pour-it-out-to-my-mom. It would actually work most of the time, but this time was different. I was the one that he needed to be talking to. "I know, Percy. I'm not upset because you poured your heart out to me," I assured him. "I'm upset because you're an idiot."

"Gee," he said. "Thanks."

"Welcome."

After a couple seconds of silence, Percy raised an eyebrow. "Well? Care to explain?"

I crossed my arms. "You said that you wished I hadn't gone to California to find you because you didn't want to be with someone who would cross the country for you, right? Because you didn't feel like you were good enough?"

"That's not entirely true. I wished that you hadn't gone to California because I _can't_ be with someone who would cross the country for me."

"Whatever. The point is you don't think you're good enough for me, right?"

He lowered his head. "That's right."

"Well then, let me ask you this, Seaweed Brain: What made you good enough to be with me four years ago?"

That question caught him off guard. For probably a minute, he was opening and closing his mouth like the true fish that he is. He looked as though he had never even considered that point.

I nodded. "Exactly." I started to turn away when Percy grabbed my shoulder.

"Annabeth, wait. Back then I-I still didn't feel good enough, nor will I ever."

"If you didn't feel good enough, then why didn't you break up with me then and tell me the same thing that you told me in your office?" My voice was beginning to rise. I started to wonder if any Hermes kids were listening in.

"Because I already had you," Percy said confidently. "I was able to call you mine and was proud of it. I was _so_ in love with you, Anna! No, actually, I take that back—I _am_ in love with you. But if I were to get back with you like nothing happened after all my mistakes and everything I've put you though when I know that you can find someone better who won't run off on you or tell you to beat it when you risked your life for him..." Percy dropped his hand that was still on my shoulder. "It just wouldn't be right."

My jaw was locked open. My eyes started tearing up a bit. It wasn't because I was upset, but because I had been waiting to hear an explanation from him for eight days and a sound from him for four year. I was now able to say that I had heard them both.

Percy stepped in and took my hand. "I'm sorry that I hurt you, Annabeth. And whatever you do with your life, I hope it makes you happy."

I smirked. "Gods, Percy," I said. "You are such a seaweed brain."

He shrugged. "So I've been told."

I giggled. "Percy, what _you_ need to realize is the only way that I'll ever be happy in life is if you're in it."

He smiled lightly. "You don't know that."

"Oh, but I do," I said. "And you know how I know? Because just as everyone has said and just as I've heard in all the romantic-comedies, I've never stopped loving you, Percy Jackson. And yes, I realize how cheesy that sounds what with you being gone for so long and me packing up like I'm running away and how everyone, mostly being Thalia, would definitely be saying 'I told you so! I told you—'"

My mouth was suddenly a little too busy to continue.

* * *

><p>"How's Athena?"<p>

"I'll kill her later."

"Isn't she immortal?"

"Don't correct me, boy."

"_Ooh, _sassy."

It was the last day of camp. After a long night of catching up (catching up, making out—what's the difference?), Percy and I were still attached at the hip. Percy went through probably two hours straight of greeting everyone and explaining what happened. However, the whole time, he never even let go of my hand.

Along with "catching up" all night, Percy and I did some actual talking as well. We decided to compromise as best as we could with Athena until we could talk to (or kill) her later. In the end, we decided that the two of us would move back to California. Percy would stay in his apartment that he was renting in San Diego and I would stay with my dad for the time being. I would apply for colleges and tutor Percy at the same time so that he could actually, you know, _get in_ to a college when he's ready. And through cars and IMs, we would make our relationship work.

Percy offered to let me move in with him, but I turned him down. I told him that it was nothing personal, just that I wasn't ready for that yet. Plus, Athena would probably feel better if I at least attempted to focus on school for a little while. And sleeping in the same room with a super hot man whom I'm in love with really wouldn't keep me very focused.

Percy just blew this off and flashed me one of his toothy grins, assuring me that this was no big deal and that space was always open there if I ever did feel ready.

But all of that was already talked about. All of our plans were set. So now Percy and I were just cuddled up together under our tree, watching the campers who wanted to swim one last time or pull just a couple more pranks before leaving for the school year.

"So," I said. "I just realized something."

"Yeah? What's that?"

"Remember the last time we were under this tree together?"

"Of course. Why?"

"Remember how you said that you don't know how I can live in San Francisco without dying of heat stroke?"

He smiled. "Maybe."

"You see, the funny thing is, you're going to be living in San Die,go which is even further south than San Francisco, which means that it will be even hotter."

"Oh, shut up."

I smirked. "Make me."

He leaned in so our lips were only a paper-width apart. "Is that a challenge, Miss Chase?"

"Well, you know me: I'm always up for a challenge." I pecked him on the lips. "And I still _always_ win."

"We'll see about that." In one swift movement, he slid out from behind me and sprinted down the beach. "Race you to the hill!" I rolled my eyes then took off after him.

This time, I wasn't letting him get away so easily. Hey, why do you think they call me Chase?

* * *

><p><strong>final thoughts ? Thank you all soooo much for sticking with me ! i seriously love you all &amp; cant even explain how much i appreciate all you've done to support me in this story ! let me know that it was all worth it though (: I wont be starting a new story until after schools out at the earliest so just author-alert me or check in often to make sure you catch when i post it (: review review &amp; i love you all ! -kenna(:<strong>


End file.
